TEACHING 


AS  A  BUSINESS 


FOUR    ADDRESSES 


BY 


C.  W.    B 


EDITOR  OF  THE    SCHOOL    BULLETIN 


SYRACUSE,    N.    Y. 

C.  W.  BAKDEEN,  PUBLISHER 

1897 


Copyright,  1897,  by  C.  W.  Bardeeu 


Of  these  addresses,  two  were  delivered  before  the 
New  York  State  Teachers'  Association,  one  before 
the  National  Educational  Association,  and  one  be- 
fore the  American  Institute  of  Instruction.  As  the 
pamphlet  editions  of  the  first  three  printed  at  the 
time  have  been  exhausted  and  there  is  still  occa- 
sional demand  for  them,  I  have  thought  it  might 
not  be  presumptuous  to  put  the  four  together  in 
more  permanent  form  as  illustrating  a  phase  of 
teaching  not  commonly  dwelt  upon  but  of  consider- 
able importance. 

SYRACUSE,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  28,  1897. 


(5) 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

THE  TEACHER  AS  HE  SHOULD  BE  9 

(New  York  State  Teachers'  Association,  Sara- 
toga Springs,  July  8,  1891). 

TEACHING  AS  A  BUSINESS  FOR  MEN      -        -       37 
(National  Educational  •  Association,   July  17, 

1885). 

THE  TEACHER'S  COMMERCIAL  VALUE  67 

(New  York  State  Teachers'  Association,  Sara- 
toga Springs,  July  9,  1885). 

FITTING  TEACHERS  TO  PLACES       -  -     101 

(American  Institute  of  Instruction,  Montreal, 

July  12,  1897). 
INDEX -        -        -     149 


(7) 


THE  TEACHER  AS  HE  SHOULD  BE 


My  earliest  ideas  of  art  are  connected  with  a  pic- 
ture in  the  advertising  columns  of  the  weekly  news- 
paper. It  represented  two  men  :  one  lean  and  lank 
and  decrepit,  walking  about  to  save  funeral  ex- 
penses, and  labelled  "  Before  taking "  ;  the  other 
blooming  with  full  vigor  of  manhood,  and  labelled 
"  After  taking".  Dr.  Andrews  has  shown  you  the 
teacher  " before  taking";  I  am  to  show  you  the 
other  one. 

A  careful  compilation  of  the  characteristics  as- 
cribed to  the  Ideal  Teacher  in  previous  addresses 
upon  the  subject  shows  that  he  must  be  affable,  be- 
nignant, courteous,  decorous,  exact,  fervent,  genteel, 
humorous,  immaculate,  judicious,  keen,  lenient, 
modest,  neat,  orderly,  prompt,  quiet,  robust,  schol- 
arly, tranquil,  ubiquitous,  vigilant,  wary,  'xem- 
plary,  youthful,  and  zealous.  My  subject,  therefore, 
naturally  divides  itself  into  twenty-seven  heads : 
the  twenty-six  which  I  have  mentioned — and  which 

(9) 


10  ;  TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS 

I  will  omit ;  and  a  twenty-seventh,  which  is  that  he 
should  be  a  Man. 

For  after  all,  that  is  about  all  there  is  of  it.  A 
person  may  have  every  one  of  these  twenty-six 
characteristics  and  yet  be  a  poor  stick  of  a  teacher. 
He  may  lack  them  all,  and  yet  be  the  one  great 
force  for  good  in  the  lives  of  his  pupils.  During 
the  war  when  things  looked  dark  and  Artemus 
Ward  was  discouraged,  he  spoke  a  little  piece  on 
specialties.  He  said  John  Adams's  specialty  was 
so-and-so,  and  Thomas  Jefferson's  was  this,  and  Alex- 
ander Hamilton's  was  that ;  but  George  Washing- 
ton's specialty  consisted  in  not  having  any  body  at 
the  present  day  resemble  him  to  any  alarming  de- 
gree. It  is  this  quality  of  pre-eminence, — of  a  per- 
sonality which  dominates  and  compels  recognition, 
that  marks  the  ideal  teacher.  He  never  deserves 
the  name  unless  his  pupils  say  of  him  revereutly, 
"  He  was  a  man,  take  him  for  all  in  all, 
I  shall  not  look  upon  his  like  again." 

Suppose  we  apply  the  inductive  method.  Let  us 
select  four  of  the  recognized  great  teachers  of  recent 
generations,  and  see  what  qualities  they  had  in 
common. 

There  will  be  no  dispute  as  to  whose  name  should 


THE  TEACHER  AS  HE  SHOULD  BE       11 

head  the  list.  With  Thomas  Arnold  let  us  associ- 
ate Edward  Thring,  Emma  Willard,  and  Mark 
Hopkins.  The  eminence  of  these  teachers  is  estab- 
lished. I  suppose  if  there  were  a  vacant  position 
on  the  institute  corps  Judge  Draper  would  consider 
any  one  of  them  an  eligible  candidate.  Language 
can  go  no  further. 

But  when  we  apply  to  them  our  twenty-six  adjec- 
tives we  are  perplexed.  For  one  thing,  none  of 
them  were  great  scholars.  Edward  Thring  and 
Mark  Hopkins  were  not  even  bookish  in  their  tastes, 
but  read  marvellously  little  for  men  of  their  station. 
As  for  professional  reading,  they  never  thought  of 
it.  Not  one  of  the  four  could  pass  a  teachers'-class 
examination  in  methods,  as  laid  down  in  DeGrafFs 
"School  Room  Guide7'. 

Time  will  not  permit  me  to  analyze  at  length  the 
characters  of  all  of  them  ;  but  suppose  we  look  for  a 
moment  at  one  who  ranks  well  with  the  rest,  and 
whose  name  is  just  now  much  mentioned  in  a 
neighboring  city.  We  shall  find  that  Emma  Wil- 
lard lacked  a  great  many  things  that  school  com- 
missioners deem  essential  to  a  first-grade  certificate. 

A  teacher  ought  to  have  a  "  professional  spirit ". 
Had  Mrs.  Willard  ?  No  :  when  she  began  teaching 


12  TEACHING   AS   A    BUSINESS 

her  sole  object  was  to  assist  her  husband  in  his 
pecuniary  affairs,  and  she  did  not  do  a  great  amount 
of  personal  teaching  after  she  got  money  enough 
together  to  hire  others  to  do  it. 

A  teacher  should  be  absorbed  in  her  work,  most 
critics  tell  us.  Was  Mrs.  Willard  ?  She  writes  from 
Middlebury  :  "  I  go  to  school  generally  before  nine 
and  stay  till  one ;  come  home,  snatch  my  dinner, 
go  again,  and  stay  till  almost  sundown  ;  come  home 
and  dress  in  a  great  hurry  to  go  abroad  ;  get  home 
about  ten,  fatigued  enough  to  go  to  bed,  and  lie  till 
seven  the  next  morning,  with  hardly  time  enough 
to  mend  my  stockings." 

A  teacher  ought  to  be  free  from  vanity.  Was 
Emma  Willard  ?  No :  she  was  one  of  the  vainest 
women  that  ever  lived.  She  went  to  a  museum  in 
Paris.  In  her  own  words  :  "I  told  them  I  was  con- 
nected with  an  establishment  for  female  education, 
or  in  other  words  was  a  school-mistress ;  and  I  dare 
say  I  gave  them  to  understand,  though  I  cannot 
tell  in  exactly  what  form  of  words,  that  I  thought 
I  was  a  pretty  good  one,  too." 

Gen.  Lafayette  had  enjoyed  his  reception  by  her 
young  ladies,  and  paid  her  much  attention  in 
France.  To  her  he  was  therefore  not  only  the  great 


THE  TEACHER  AS  HE  SHOULD  BE        13 

man  of  Europe,  but  in  her  own  words  "  the  acknowl- 
edged father  of  my  country", — which  shows  what 
an  oversight  it  was  on  Washington's  part  to  die 
before  he  visited  Troy.  She  made  one  of  Gen. 
Lafayette's  party  to  the  opera,  and  as  they  went  out 
the  crowd  made  respectful  passage  for  them.  "I 
can  scarcely  describe  my  own  feelings,"  she  writes  ; 
"  I  was  with  him  whom  from  my  infancy  I  had  ven- 
erated as  the  best  of  men  ;  whom  for  a  long  period 
of  my  life  I  had  never  hoped  even  to  see  in  this 
world.  Now  I  read  with  him  his  noble  history  in 
the  melting  eyes  of  his  ardent  nation.  And  I  saw 
that  he  was  regarded  as  he  is,  the  father  of  France 
— aye,  and  of  America  too.  America !  my  own 
loved  land!  It  was  for  her  sake  I  was  thus 
honored,  and  it  was  for  me  to  feel  her  share  in  the 
common  emotion.  My  spirit  seemed  to  dilate,  and 
for  a  moment,  self-personified  as  the  genius  of  my 
country,  I  enjoyed  to  the  full  his  triumph,  who  is 
at  once  her  father,  and  her  adopted  son." 

She  used  to  write  letters  to  the  great  men  of  the 
time, — Webster,  Clay,  Benton,  the  presidents,  and 
so  on, — whether  she  knew  them  or  not,  and  whether 
the  letters  were  answered  or  not.  She  began  a 
letter  to  Abraham  Lincoln  thus  :  "  Dear  sir  :  Pre- 


14  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

suming  I  am  known  to  you  as  a  writer  of  my 
country's  history,  and  having  just  heard  that  the 
great  cares  which  weigh  upon  you  begin  to  tell 
upon  your  physical  health,  I  determined  to  write  to 
you  my  high  approval  of  your  general  course  and 
leading  measures. " 

We  regret  that,  in  the  language  of  her  biographer, 
he  was  too  preoccupied  to  reply. 

She  was  equally  unlimited  in  her  choice  of  topics. 
A  gentleman  was  asked  what  was  the  specialty  of  a 
certain  man  of  scientific  pretensions.  "  In  these 
days,"  was  the  careful  reply,  "  a  scientist's  specialty 
must  be  very  narrow.  It  must  be  not  all  natural 
history,  but  zoology ;  not  all  zoology  but  insects ; 
not  all  insects,  but  diptera  ;  not  all  diptera,  but  the 
flea,  and  so  on.  Now  Mr.  Blank's  specialty  is 
omniscience." 

So  it  might  be  said  of  Mrs.  Willard  that  her 
specialty  was  omniscience.  She  knew  a  good  deal 
about  female  education  but  she  was  just  as  ready  to 
pronounce .  authoritative  opinions  upon  any  other 
subject.  During  the  war  she  published  a  pamphlet 
on  the  negro,  pointing  out  that  God  had  made  him 
black  so  that  his  place  as  servant  in  the  family 
should  be  unmistakably  settled,  all  jealous  heart- 


THE  TEACHER  AS  HE  SHOULD  BE        15 

burnings  and  vain  expectations  spared,  and  a  per- 
manent order  in  the  household  established.  She 
strode  into  the  medical  field,  and  invented  a  theory 
of  circulation  and  respiration  that  was  solemnly 
endorsed  in  1851  by  this  Association.  Under  this 
doctrine  a  consumptive  in  the  last  stages  had  only  to 
throw  open  a  window  and  inhale  deep  draughts  of 
winter  air,  and  all  would  be  well — a  simpler  cure 
than  Dr.  Koch's  and  perhaps  no  shorter-lived. 

I  could  occupy  all  my  time  telling  of  the  foolish 
things  Emma  Willard  did  in  her  long  and  busy 
life.  So  I  could  pick  a  handful  of  pebbles  from  a 
fallow  meadow,  and  show  them  to  you  as  speci- 
mens of  the  soil.  Emma  Willard  could  afford  to  do 
foolish  things  ;  for  she  was  a  great  woman,  and  in 
the  light  of  her  noble  character  and  her  inestimable 
services  to  her  sex  these  defects  sink  into  insignifi- 
cance. 

I  am  a  hero-worshiper.  I  want  to  die  long  before 
I  cease  to  believe,  I  do  not  say  in  goodness  and  in 
greatness,  but  in  good  men  and  great  men.  It  is 
the  curse  of  this  generation  that  in  the  same 
breath  we  say  of  a  scoundrel,  "  0  well,  I  dare  say 
the  rest  of  us  are  just  as  bad  if  we  were  only  found 
out;"  and  of  a  noble  champion  of  God's  truth, 


16  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

"He  knows  on  which  side  his  bread  is  buttered." 
Coleridge  said  his  Mephistopheles  was  to  have  made 
all  things  vain  and  nothing  worth  by  a  perpetual  col- 
lation of  the  great  with  the  little  in  the  presence  of 
the  infinite.  Of  all  that  an  evil  spirit  denies,  we 
lose  most  as  we  are  pervaded  by  his  denial  of  dis- 
tinction in  the  motives  of  human  action. 

But  my  hero-worship  is  not  panegyric.  If  you 
tell  me  that  Thomas  Arnold  had  no  faults,  you  do 
not  jraise  my  opinion  of  him,  but  you  show  me  that 
you  lack  information  and  judgment.  All  men 
have  faults,  and  great  men  are  sure  to  have  marked 
faults.  It  is  a  sign  of  a  great  man  that  he  can 
afford  to  have  faults,  and  of  a  clear  mind  to  see  the 
faults  only  in  perspective. 

Let  me  illustrate. 

The  great  man  in  my  own  experience  as  a  pupil, 
the  only  teacher  out  of  the  hundred  I  had  who  left 
in  me  a  recognized  uplifting  of  my  whole  nature 
through  his  personality,  knew  less  about  mathe- 
matics than  I  do  about  the  next  world  ;  for  I  know 
that  I  know  nothing  about  the  next  world,  and  he 
never  found  out  that  he  knew  nothing  about  algebra. 
I  remember  vividly  a  typical  recitation.  The  class 
had  stumbled  over  the  proof  that  a°— 1.  So  he 


THE  TEACHER  AS  HE  SHOULD  BE       17 

went  to  the  board  to  help  us  out.  Chalk  in  hand 
he  began  bravely:  aa°='?.  A  pause,  a  turn  to 
the  side  of  his  shaggy  locks  :  '•  =a°  ".  A  further 
pause,  and  then  below  :  "  aQ=  "  ;  and  then  quickly  : 
"=a°.  So  you  see  a°=l.  Next."  A  whisk  of 
the  eraser,  and  he  slunk  back  to  his  seat  and  went 
on  with  the  lesson. 

Now  there  is  in  combination  every  possible  fault 
in  a  recitation.  As  an  educated  man  he  ought  to 
have  been  able  to  demonstrate  that  a°=l  anywhere 
and  at  any  time.  I  could  do  it  myself,  though  I 
haven't  taught  school  in  twenty  years. 

Then  if  he  was  going  to  teach  algebra  at  all,  he 
ought  to  have  prepared  his  lesson.  He  might  at 
least  have  committed  the  demonstration  to  memory. 

In  fact  if  you  as  a  young  commissioner  were  to 
judge  him  by  that  recitation  you  would  not  have 
granted  him  a  third-grade  certificate.  You  would 
have  told  him  that  the  quicker  he  got  out  of  the 
school-room  and  into  some  legitimate  business  for 
which  he  had  reasonable  adaptation,  the  better. 
And  yet  that  man  was  head  and  shoulders  the  best 
teacher  I  ever  had.  He  knew  less  than  nothing 
about  mathematics,  but  ()  what  a  Greek  scholar  he 
was  !  His  boys  went  down  to  Yale  fully  abreast  in 


18  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

technicalities  of  Uncle  Sam's  Andover  pets,  and  in 
critical  appreciation  way  beyond  them.  It  was  an 
inspiration  to  recite  to  him  in  Homer.  There  we 
saw  him  at  his  best,  for  he  loved  the  language  and 
all  the  lines.  Unconsciously  he  lavished  upon  us 
there  the  earnestness,  the  simplicity,  the  depth,  and 
the  richness  of  his  character.  No  boy  ever  grad- 
uated under  William  Hutchison  without  a  loftier 
ideal  of  what  it  was  to  be  a  man. 

We  never  thought  he  was  without  faults,  but 
what  did  we  care  for  them  ?  His  algebra  recitations 
were  ridiculous ;  but  think  what  a  glorious  old 
fellow  he  must  have  been  that  he  could  every  day 
go  through  such  fatuous  performances  and  not  a 
boy  in  the  room  think  less  of  him. 

Now  understand  me,  I  do  not  mean  that  a  man 
is  ever  greater  on  account  of  his  faults.  Mr.  Hutch- 
ison would  have  been  a  better  teacher,  and  I 
should  be  to-day  a  better  scholar  if  he  had  either 
mastered  mathematics  or  refused  to  teach  it.  But 
that  one  weakness  of  his  stood  out  against  such  a 
wealth  of  strength  that  it  was  simply  funny  to  us 
from  its  incongruity. 

I  want  to  emphasize  this,  for  it  is  the  underlying 
point  of  this  address.  Teachers  are  judged  too 


THE  TEACHER  AS  HE  SHOULD  BE       19 

much   by   characteristics,    too   little   by   character. 

You  come  to  me  for  a  teacher,  and  I  say,  "  Well, 
here  is  a  capital  man  in  most  ways,  but  he  lacks 
tact."  Like  a  flash  you  reply,  "That  settles  it; 
tact  is  indispensable. " 

Is  it?  That  depends  on  the  man.  Thomas 
Arnold  had  no  tact ;  Edward  Thring  abounded  in 
the  lack  of  it :  so  if  all  men  had  been  of  your  mind 
England  would  have  missed  the  two  greatest  teach- 
ers she  ever  knew. 

In  fact  specification  of  non-essentials  is  the  rock 
upon  which  many  a  school-board  splits.  A  com- 
mittee come  to  me  and  say  :  "  We  want  a  principal, 
both  normal  and  college  graduate  ;  not  less  than  25 
or  more  than  30  years  old  ;  rather  tall,  and  weigh- 
ing from  150  to  175  pounds ;  married,  with  an 
agreeable  wife  and  two  or  three  children ;  who  has 
had  experience  in  a  school  under  the  Regents,  holds 
a  State  certificate  by  examination,  and  can  show 
that  in  every  school  where  he  has  taught  he  has 
increased  the  foreign  attendance." 

"  And  what  will  you  pay  ?  "  I  ask. 

"  Well  if  he  just  suits  us,  we  will  give  him  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars." 

One  is  reminded  of  the   dignified  but  seedy  in- 


20  TEACHING   AS   A    BUSINESS 

dividual  who  entered  a  cheap  restaurant,  took  off 
his  gloves,  hung  his  hat  and  overcoat  upon  the 
hooks,  dusted  the  chair,  brushed  the  crumbs  from 
the  table-cloth,  and  then  addressed  the  waiter  as 
follows  : 

"  If  you  have  just  the  right  kind  of  oysters  in  just 
the  right  condition,  please  take  half  a  pint  of  small 
ones  (not  too  small  you  know),  and  strain  the  juice 
off  of  them  carefully,  leaving  just  a  little  juice  on 
them ;  put  them  in  a  pan  which  has  been  scoured 
and  dried,  and  then  add  a  little  butter  (good,  pure 
butter),  and  a  little  milk  (not  New  York  milk,  but 
real  cow's  milk),  and  then  place  the  pan  over  a 
coal-fire,  being  careful  to  keep  the  pan  in  motion  so 
as  not  to  let  the  oysters  or  milk  bum  ;  add  a  little 
juice  if  you  choose,  and  then  watch  the  pan  closely 
so  that  .the  exact  moment  it  comes  to  boil  you  can 
whip  it  off.  At  the  same  time  have  a  deep  dish 
warming  near  at  hand,  and  when  you  see  the  first 
sign  of  boiling  empty  the  pan  into  the  dish.  DC 
you  think  you  can  remember  that?" 

And  the  waiter,  who  had  listened  respectfully  > 
called  wearily  down  into  the  kitchen,  "  One  stew  !  " 

So  the  school  board  that  goes  so  much  into  detail 
in  prescribing  qualifications  will  find  in  the  end  that 
it  has  secured  one  stick. 


THE  TEACHER  AS  HE  SHOULD  BE       21 

The  worst  of  it  is,  trustees  are  often  the  most 
strenuous  about  the  least  important.  A  committee 
says  : 

"  We  want  an  intermediate  teacher  :  normal  grad- 
uate ;  between  22  and  26  years  old  ;  rather  impos- 
ing in  height ;  dressing  neatly  but  not  showily,  with 
preference  for  dark  colors ;  at  least  four  years7 
experience,  the  last  half  in  graded  schools ;  who 
can  play  the  organ  for  marching,  has  read  oc- 
casional papers  at  county  associations,  and  attends 
thQ  Free- Will  Baptist  church.  'Salary  seven  dollars 
a  week." 

"And  if  you  can't  get  quite  all  these  things?" 
"  Well  she  must  be  a  Free- Will  Baptist." 
You  remember  the  perplexity  of  the  boy  who  as 
he  grew  up  was  astonished  to  learn  that  our  Saviour 
was  born  a  Jew.     He  said  he  had  always  supposed 
God  was  a  Presbyterian. 

It  is  most  exasperating  when  these  narrow  critics 
pride  themselves  on  rejecting  a  teacher  for  some 
trivial  defect.  They  have  found  that  he  is  a  noble 
Christian  man,  of  long  and  successful  experience, 
and  they  cast  him  aside  because  in  writing  of  pun- 
ishment he  spells  corporal  with  an  e.  Now  it  is  a 
fault  not  to  spell  well ;  so  far  as  it  goes  it  counts 


22  TEACHING   AS   A    BUSINESS 

against  a  teacher,  decidedly.     But  the  woods  are 
full  of  teachers 

Who  never  wrote  a  misspelled  word 
Nor  ever  said  a  wise  one. 

It  makes  a  difference  whether  the  word  is  spelled 
correctly,  but  it  makes  more  difference  what  the 
word  is  and  what  it  means.  Suppose  I  am  on  the 
point  of  purchasing  Judge  Hilton's  park  at  Sara- 
toga. By  a  reversal  of  conditions  I  have  become 
wealthy  and  he — an  editor.  The  place  seems  to 
suit  me ;  he  wants  to  sell  and  I  want  to  buy.  I 
drive  out  there  and  as  I  pass  through  the  gate  I  see 
a  cobble-stone  lying  in  the  middle  of  the  roadway. 
"  That's  enough  for  me,"  I  say ;  "  turn  around  and 
drive  back  to  the  hotel.  I  don't  want  any  country- 
place  so  poorly  taken  care  of  that  the  roadways  are 
sprinkled  with  cobble-stones." 

Ridiculous,  isn't  it  ?  Well  is  it  not  just  as  ridicu- 
lous to  reject  a  man  finally  and  solely  because 
he  spells  separate  with  three  e's  ?  The  road  ought 
not  to  have  cobble-stones  in  it,  but  will  it  not  be 
better  to  drive  around  the  rest  of  the  place  and 
see  whether  the  cobble-stone  is  typical  or  excep- 
tional ?  The  teacher  ought  not  to  misspell  separate, 
but  will  it  not  be  better  to  look  further  and  see 


THE  TEACHER  AS  HE  SHOULD  BE       23 

whether  this  blunder  is  characteristic,  or  whether  it 
is  an  exception  that  proves  the  rule  ? 

A  few  weeks  ago  I  recommended  to  one  of  the 
best  superintendents  I  know,  a  lady  whom  I  pro- 
nounced exceptionally  fitted  to  fill  a  responsible 
position.  He  liked  what  I  said  of  her  and  what 
she  said  of  herself  in  a  letter  of  application ;  but 
in  an  accompanying  page  giving  an  outline  of  her 
experience,  she  had  written  : 

"Born ,  June  21,  1862. 

Graduated  from ,  1883. 

Taught ,  1883-1886,"  etc. 

He  showed  me  this  sheet  and  said  it  astonished 
him  to  find  a  teacher  generally  well-educated  who 
would  end  these  statements  with  periods.  They 
were  parts  of  one  sentence,  and  should  have  been 
separated  by  semicolons.  In  fact  this  seemed  to 
him  so  unpardonable  a  blunder  that  though  in  his 
search  for  a  teacher  he  passed  through  the  village 
where  she  was  employed,  he  would  not  stop  to  see 
her.  Think  of  it !  One  of  the  noblest  women  that 
man  ever  left  unmarried,  with  a  record  of  un- 
broken and  progressive  success  as  a  teacher  :  and  he 
would  not  stop  to  see  her  because  it  was  her  judg- 
ment to  use  periods  where  it  was  his  to  use  semi- 
colons ! 


24  TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS 

I  remember  years  ago  a  story  the  principal  told 
us  of  a  classmate  since  risen  to  eminence  ;  a  teacher 
who  in  his  early  days  was  on  the  point  of  engage- 
ment where  he  lost  the  place  in  this  way.  The 
trustees  had  met  to  elect  him,  and  were  waiting 
for  a  ninth  member  to  come  that  the  vote  might  be 
unanimous.  The  clerk  happened  to  remember  that 
he  had  received  a  letter  asking  some  trifling  ques- 
tion of  detail  as  to  the  household  arrangements, 
in  which  the  teacher  explained  in  a  bashful  way 
that  this  interested  him  as  he  was  about  "  se  nu- 
bere  ".  That  finished  him.  The  chairman  smiled 
a  superior  smile  as  he  remarked  that  a  man  who 
did  not  know  enough  of  Latin  customs  and  the 
Latin  language  to  be  aware  that  it  was  the  bride 
who  veiled  herself  and  not  the  bridegroom,  would 

not  be  needed  as  principal  of  Academy. 

The  superior  smile  spread,  and  a  nincompoop  who 
had  sense  enough  to  write  in  English  was  selected 
instead. 

Now  it  was  a  bad  blunder  for  this  man  to  say  he 
was  about  se  nubere ;  it  was  a  worse  one  to  use  a 
Latin  expression,  even  bashfully,  where  Anglo- 
Saxon  would  have  expressed  the  meaning  better. 
But  was  this  little  slip  sufficient  reason  for  rejecting 


THE  TEACHER  AS  HE  SHOULD  BE       25 

a  man  whose  general  scholarship  and  teaching  skill 
and  executive  ability  were  attested  by  ten  years  of 
marked  success  in  like  work  ?  I  am  glad  to  say  in 
this  case  the  rejected  candidate  was  employed  by  a 
less  finical  board  of  trustees  in  a  neighboring 
academy,  hitherto  a  feeble  rival,  but  since  then  of 
such  rapid  growth  that  it  has  long  overshadowed 
the  other. 

These  men  would  not  have  rejected  a  2:20  horse 
because  one  of  his  ears  had  been  clipped  a  trifle,  or 
a  Holstein  cow  of  big  milking-record  because  her 
white  belt  was  a  little  wider  on  the  near  side.  But 
this  pedantic  chairman  chuckled  so  conceitedly  over 
this  one  little  blunder  he  had  chanced  to  detect, 
that  he  forgot  all  the  evidence  of  exceptional  ability, 
and  in  rejecting  this  man  permitted  his  academy  so 
effectually  to  veil  itself  that  it  has  been  wedded  to 
obscurity  ever  since. 

When  Robert  Bonner  wanted  a  mate  for  Dexter, 
he  offered  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  any 
horse  that  could  equal  Dexter's  record.  He  cared 
nothing  for  details.  The  horse  might  have  four 
white  feet  and  a  white  nose  (as  indeed  Dexter 
had),  a  docked  tail,  knock-knees,  the  blind-stag- 
gers if  you  will — still  the  money  was  ready.  All 


26  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

he  asked  for  was  a  horse  that  could  trot  in  2:18. 

School  committees  might  well  partake  something 
of  this  spirit.  See  everything  if  you  will :  length 
of  the  hair,  color  of  the  neck-tie,  quality  of  the 
cuffs, — I  agree  with  you,  it  all  counts.  I  respect 
the  judgment  of  the  Irishman  who  declined  to  vote 
for  a  candidate  with  a  No.  6  hat  and  No.  12  shoes, 
if  that  was  all  the  Irishman  knew  about  him.  But 
remember  that  sometimes  a  man's  a  man  for  a'  that ; 
and  that  when  he  has  a  record  behind  him  there 
are  other  things  to  consider  than  whether  he  patron- 
izes your  tailor  and  attends  your  church. 

O  my  friends,  why  not  say,  "  Give  me  the  most 
of  a  Man  you  can  for  the  money."  If  he  can  turn 
your  boys  and  girls  into  honest,  earnest,  scholarly, 
self-respecting,  high-minded  men  and  women,  be 
he  tall  or  short,  young  or  old,  graduate  or  no  grad- 
uate, Baptist  or  Unitarian,  Tammany  Democrat  or 
Prohibitionist,  he  is  the  man  you  want. 

Here  is  the  difficulty  in  applying  to  the  selection 
of  teachers  the  rules  of  the  Civil  Service.  Those 
who  heard  the  persuasive  voice  of  George  William 
Curtis  at  Philadelphia,  last  winter,  might  well  have 
been  allured  for  the  moment  into  believing  that  it 
was  the  great  need  of  our  schools  to  be  brought 


THE  TEACBtER  AS  HE  SHOULD  BE       2/ 

under  the  operation  of  the  Civil  Service.  But 
reflection  shows  that  character,  personality,  indi- 
vidual influence  can  never  be  determined  by  ques- 
tion papers.  It  is  legitmate  to  establish  a  minimum 
standard  of  qualification,  as  by  our  uniform  exam- 
inations ;  but  when  you  go  further  and  say  this 
man  must  be  taken  because  he  passed  98  per  cent, 
and  that  man  must  be  rejected  because  he  passed 
97f-  per  cent,  you  go  too  far.  As  Superintendent 
Draper  puts  it,  "  The  State  has  every  right  to  say 
who  shall  not  teach,  but  she  has  no  right  to  say 
who  shall  teach. " 

Hence  it  is  not  altogether  to  be  regretted  that  an 
application  of  Chancellor  Curtis's  principle  should 
have  occurred  so  soon  and  in  his  own  university. 
The  New  York  commission  held  that  the  two  in- 
spectors of  academies, — officers  in  whom  the  require- 
ment of  scholarship  was  as  nothing  compared  with 
those  of  experience,  judgment,  the  respect  and  con- 
fidence of  the  academy  principals, — should  be  ap- 
pointed by  competitive  examination.  You  might 
as  well  pick  out  a  wife  by  competitive  examination. 
The  action  of  the  commission  in  this  matter  has 
put  back  civil  service  reform  ten  years,  if  indeed 
among  thinking  men  it  has  not  dealt  it  an  irrepar- 
able blow. 


28  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

"  I  say,  Mac,"  asked  a  customer  of  an  Ann  street 
bookseller,  "what  is  this  edition  de  luxy  I  see  pub- 
lishers advertising  of  so  many  books?" 

"An  edition  de  luxe?"  replied  the  bookseller 
cheerfully  ;•  "  why  you've  seen  a  rabbit?  " 

"Yes." 

"  And  you've  seen  a  jackass  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  Well,  a  jackass  is  an  edition  de  luxe  of  a  rabbit." 

If  the  New  York  Civil  Service  Commission  were 
to  be  judged  by  its  action  upon  academy  inspectors, 
it  might  well  be  called  an  edition  de  luxe — in  con- 
tinuous proportion. 

All  these  small  measures  that  you  apply  to  ordin- 
ary men  fail  when  you  come  to  such  a  teacher  as  I 
am  considering. 

Take  tact  for  instance.  The  youngest  committee- 
man  knows  that  tact  is  indispensable,  and  he  does 
not  draw  a  very  definite  distinction  between  tact 
and  policy.  The  teacher  must  know  how  to  get 
along  smoothly.  Boards  of  education  like  a  teacher 
of  whom  they  hear  nothing.  A  principal  like  a 
stomach  is  perfect  only  when  you  are  unconscious 
of  him.  He  reports  at  the  annual  meeting  that 
the  teachers  are  excellent,  the  text-books  are  giving 


THE  TEACHER  AS  HE  SHOULD  BE       29 

entire  satisfaction,  there  is  no  need  of  any  appara- 
tus, and  the  commissioner  told  him  this  was  the 
best  school  in  the  country.  So  he  is  re-elected  year 
after  year  :  and  if  you  ask  any  one  in  the  village 
whether  there  is  a  school  there,  the  reply  will  be, 
"  Why,  I  suppose  so  ;  the  bell  rings  every  morn- 
ing." To  some  people  it  is  with  the  school  as  with 
the  Indian — the  only  good  school  is  a  dead  school. 

You  know  this  type  of  teacher :  there  is  a  great 
many  of  him.  He  is  the  man  who  is  continually 
making  his  calling  sure  by  making  sure  of  his 
election — his  next  one.  He  is  satisfied  to  have, 
like  a  geometrical  point,  position  without  magni- 
tude. 

Now  what  is  tact,  but  yielding  to  the  whims  of 
others  ?  The  average  teacher  must  have  it,  because 
without  it  he  cannot  get  along  at  all.  But  the  mas- 
terful teacher  does  not  steer  himself  sinuously  about 
the  edges  of  other  people's  whims  so  as  not  to  graze 
them  :  he  teaches  other  people  to  keep  their  whims 
out  of  his  way.  The  man  of  tact  adapts  himself 
to  circumstances  ;  the  masterful  man  controls  them. 
It  is  better  to  yield  than  to  quarrel,  but  it  is  better 
yet  to  control. 

It  is  a  great  blessing  to  come  under  the  influence 


30  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

of  a  masterful  man.  This  age  loses  something  of 
the  mental  fibre  that  characterizes  pioneers,  because 
it  is  less  accustomed  to  grapple  with  difficulties.  It 
has  been  calculated  to  the  fraction  of  a  per  cent,  what 
the  average  boy  can  do.  His  life  gets  set  in  a 
groove,  and  he  anticipates  only  disaster  if  he  should 
jump  the  rails  and  strike  out  into  the  fields. 

But  the  masterful  teacher  shows  him  that  the 
possibilities  have  not  yet  been  surmised,  and  leads 
him  to  substitute  for  the  confident  "  It  can't  be 
done,"  the  hopeful  "  Let's  give  it  a  try."  This  is 
no  age  to  sit  by  the  side  of  the  brook  and  wait  for 
the  water  to  run  by.  "  Young  man,"  Martin  An- 
derson used  to  say,  "make  things  come  to  pass." 
The  power  of  the  human  will  has  too  little  recogni- 
tion in  education.  It  does  remove  mountains ; 
mountains  vanish  before  it. 

Can  you  not  sacrifice  something  in  non-essentials 
to  secure  a  man  like  this?  The  ideal  is  of  course 
the  iron  hand  in  the  velvet  glove ;  but  suppose  you 
can't  have  both,  which  will  you  dispense  with,  the 
hand  or  the  glove  ?  The  glove  is  smoother  ;  but  in 
this  modern  current  of  indolence,  indifference,  and 
conscious  helplessness  it  takes  a  strong  grip  on  the 
oar  to  turn  your  school  up-stream  and  give  your 
scholars  a  purpose  to  live  for. 


THE  TEACHER  AS  HE  SHOULD  BE       31 

The  teacher's  ^morality,  for  instance,  must  be  of 
the  stalwart  type.  It  is  not  enough  that  he  be 
inoffensive ;  he  must  be  aggressively  honest  and 
pure.  No  didactic  lessons  have  such  effect  upon 
watchful  pupils  as  the  instinctive  gesture  of  con- 
tempt in  a  pure-minded  teacher  when  there  is  any 
manifestation  of  baseness ;  nor  can  they  atone  for 
the  weakening  of  the  pupil's  moral  fibre  when  the 
teacher  makes  light  of  dishonesty  in  examination, 
or  shows  enjoyment  of  a  libidinous  jest.  Says  the 
latest  biographer  of  Thomas  Arnold  : 

"  The  great  peculiarity  and  charm  of  his  nature 
seemed  to  lie  in  the  regal  supremacy  of  the  moral 
and  the  spiritual  element  over  his  whole  being  and 
powers.  His  intellectual  faculties  were  not  such  as 
to  surpass  those  of  many  who  were  his  contempo- 
raries ;  in  scholarship  he  occupied  a  subordinate 
place  to  several  who  filled  situations  like  his  ;  and 
he  had  not  much  of  what  is  usually  called  tact  in 
his  dealings  with  either  the  juvenile  or  the  adult 
mind.  What  gave  him  his  power,  and  secured  for 
him  so  deeply  the  respect  and  veneration  of  his 
pupils  and  acquaintances,  was  the  intensely  religious 
character  of  his  whole  life." 

It  is  this  positive  element  that  is  indispensable  in 


32  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

the  ideal  teacher.  We  want  more  of  the  Robert 
Browning  estimate  of  men,  not  by  what  they  refrain 
from,  but  by  what  they  do.  It  is  the  Bible  judg- 
ment. The  man  with  the  one  talent  whimpered 
that  he  didn't  drink,  he  didn't  smoke,  he  didn't 
swear,  he  didn't  play  billards,  he  never  sat  down  to 
the  table  with  his  coat  off  or  ate  with  his  knife ; 
but  the  great  judge  interrupted  him:  "  What  are 
the  things  you  have  done  to  make  this  world  bet- 
ter ?  "  And  the  man  who  hadn't  done  anything 
was  done  for. 


I  have  said  that  Dr.  Andrews's  picture  was  of  the 
teacher  " before  taking"  ;  I  might  add  that  mine  is 
of  the  teacher  before  being  taken,  and  not  alto- 
gether likely  to  be  taken. 

A  while  ago  a  man  was  praising  his  preceptress 
to  me  interminably,  and  to  get  to  a  period  I  sum- 
med it  up  for  him.  "  In  short/'  I  said,  "  she  is  a 
royal  woman." 

"  Royal !  "  he  exclaimed,  starting  on  a  fresh  tack, 
"  royal !  She  is  more  than  royal :  she  is  empirical ! " 

He  hadn't  had  the  Regents'  syllabus  in  etymol- 
ogy, but  there  are  boards  of  education  that,  honest 


THE  TEACHER  AS  HE  SHOULD  BE       33 

Indian,  would  rather  have  for  principal  a  quack 
than  a  king. 

For  what  is  a  quack  ?  Why,  a  quack  is  a  man 
who  makes  up  for  ignorance  of  his  subject  by 
knowledge  of  his  victim.  He  can't  cure  a  man, 
but  he  can  flatter  him.  The  educational  quack 
knows  little  about  pedagogy,  but  he  knows  a  good 
deal  about  making  every  member  of  the  board  in 
turn  believe  that  he  is  the  member  who  is  running 
the  school.  And  that  member  likes  it. 

For  it  is  an  unhappy  fact  that  independence  of 
thought  and  action  is  about  the  last  thing  a  board 
of  education  looks  for  in  a  teacher.  You  know  the 
cities  of  this  State  pretty  well  :  tell  me  how  many 
of  them  would  employ  a  masterful  man  for  super- 
intendent— if  they  knew  it.  I  doubt  if  the  Repub- 
lican caucus  would  have  united  on  Judge  Draper 
five  years  ago,  if  they  had  foreseen  where  he  was 
going  to  land  them.  Educational  officials  want  a 
man  to  carry  out  their  ideas,  not  to  originate  ideas 
of  his  own. 

Suppose  we  tried  that  in  other  professions.  I  go 
to  a  physician  and  say  :  "  I  want  you  to  doctor  my 
family,  but  you  must  come  to  me  first  to  find  out 
what  is  the  matter  with  them  and  how  to  cure  it. 


34  TEACHING   AS   A    BUSINESS 

You  can  mix  and  administer  the  doses,  but  I  will 
prescribe  them."  He  would  be  very  likely  to  leave 
me  to  the  tender  mercies  of  Tutt's  Pills. 

Or  suppose,  again,  I  go  to  a  lawyer  and  say  :  "  I 
have  a  complicated  case  here  that  I  want  taken 
care  of,  but  you  must  do  it  in  my  way.  I  will 
explain  what  the  law  is  and  how  to  apply  it,  but 
you  can  make  out  the  papers  and  address  the  jury." 
He  would  be  apt  to  remind  me  that  the  man  who 
was  his  own  lawyer  had  a  fool  for  a  client. 

Or  again,  suppose  I  say  to  a  clergyman :  "  We 
have,  decided  to  hire  you  as  pastor,  but  you  will, 
understand  that  you  must  follow  our  dictation.  We 
have  here  an  elaborate  printed  course,  giving  you 
the  subject  of  each  sermon  ancT  prayer  throughout 
the  year,  and  the  length  of  them,  and  should  like 
to  have  the  manuscripts  submitted  to  us  for  revision 
on  the  Saturday  before."  He  won't  tell  us  he 
would  see  us  in  Gehenna  first,  but  he  will  think  our 
chances  are  good  to  get  there. 

Edward  Thring  wrote  to  a  friend  who  asked 
advice : 

"  My  view  is  simple.  The  skilled  workman 
ought  to  be  allowed  uncontrolled  management  of 
the  work.  Governors  ought  to  sanction  his  plan  of 


THE  TEACHER  AS  HE  SHOULD  BE        35 

work  originally,  and  see  that  the  work  up  to  a  fair 
average  is  honestly  done.  But  no  work  can  flour- 
ish over  a  series  of  years  which  is  exposed  to  inter- 
ference from  local  amateurs  in  authority." 

When  the  teacher  is  as  he  should  be,  that  view 
of  his  office  will  be  recognized  and  maintained. 


TEACHING  AS  A  BUSINESS  FOR  MEN 


To  the  subject  as  assigned  to  me,  I  have  taken 
the  liberty  to  add  the  words  " for  Men":  partly 
because  as  thus  limited  the  subject  is  quite  broad 
enough  for  a  half-hour's  discussion ;  and  partly 
because,  to  make  my  point  of  view  distinct,  I  desire 
to  approach  the  question  in  the  attitude  of  the 
young  man  just  graduated,  who  has  a  natural 
inclination  toward  the  work  of  a  teacher,  and  is 
looking  the  field  over  to  decide  whether  it  will  pay. 

Let  us  suppose  a  case.  Here  is  John  Doe,  freshly 
B.  A.,  a  young  man  of  good  health,  high  character, 
accurate  scholarship,  social  culture,  and  tact, — 
shrewd,  determined,  persistent,  enthusiastic, — in 
short,  a  man  bound  to  stand  in  the  higher  ranks  of 
any  employment  he  may  select.  He  comes  to  me  for 
advice  as  to  choosing  a  profession.  He  has  been 
fortunate  enough  to  recognize  his  indebtedness  to 
one  or  two  superior  teachers,  and  he  thinks  he 
would  like  to  send  out  a  few  young  men  every  year 

(37) 


38  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

who  would  feel  that  way  toward  him.  So  without 
looking  upon  it,  as  a  matter  of  duty  he  is  inclined 
to  become  a  teacher  ;  and  he  asks  my  advice  as  to 
whether  it  is  from  the  worldly-wise  point  of  view  a 
desirable  choice.  The  real  question  in  my  mind 
and  in  his  is  this :  Ought  teaching  under  present 
conditions  to  command  the  services  of  first-class 
young  men  ? 

"  Well,  John/7  I  say,  "  tell  me  some  of  the  advan- 
tages you  think  it  holds  out." 

"  Why,  in  the  first  place/'  he  replies,  "I  suppose 
one  is  tolerably  sure  of  a  living." 

"  Ahem  !  possibly,"  I  say.  "  That  depends  upon 
what  one  means  by  a  living.  If  you  mean  exist- 
ence, Yes.  If  you  mean  the  leisure  and  the  money 
to  develop  your  possibilities  on  all  sides ;  to  sur- 
round yourself  with  the  comforts  and  conveniences 
of  modern  civilization ;  to  command  the  resources 
of  literature,  and  the  companionship  of  great  men ; 
to  see  and  hear  at  will  all  that  is  noblest  in  nature 
and  in  art,  that  your  standards  may  be  the  highest 
— decidedly  No." 

"  But  teachers  get  good  salaries,"  he  urges. 

"Poor  teachers  do.  Third-and '  fourth-rate  men 
are  overpaid  in  this  business  as  nowhere  else.  But 


TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS   FOR   MEN  39 

first-rate  men  have  no  opportunities.  Dr.  Wicker- 
sham,  of  Pensylvania,  has  been  looking  up  this 
matter,  and  he  says  there  are  only  ten  teachers  and 
superintendents  in  that  State  who  get  $2,000  a  year  ; 
that  in  Lancaster  the  superintendent  of  schools  gets 
$1,500,  and  the  overseer  of  the  cotton-mill,  $8,000 ; 
that  he  has  known  a  lawyer  to  exact  a  fee  greater 
than  any  teacher's  earnings  for  five  years,  while  a 
doctor  may  obtain  in  an  hour  a  sum  that  most 
teachers  cannot  gather  in  a  life-time." 

The  young  man  sighs.  "  I  suppose  that  I  shall 
have  to  be  economical,"  he  says,  "but  at  least  the 
teacher  is  a  man  of  influence  and  social  position." 

"Indeed?"  I  reply.  "That  is  not  the  usual 
opinion  entertained  even  by  teachers  themselves. 
Here  is  part  of  an  editorial  from  the  New  England 
Journal  of  Education*  : 

"  A  teacher  is  respectable ;  but  when  you  have 
said  that  you  have  stated  all  that  the  mass  of  people 
will  allow  concerning  him.  He  is  respectable  in 
the  same  way  that  a  good  book  is  respectable  ;  valu- 
able for  what  it  contains,  but  still  an  inanimate 
object,  something  that  cannot  enter  into  the  active 
struggles  of  life,  something  to  be  taken  down  at 


*xi.395. 


40  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

pleasure,  and  at  pleasure  shelved  ;  valuable  chiefly 
in  the  fact  that,  though  learned  and  wise,  and,  per- 
haps, witty,  it  must  yet,  on  all  occasions,  keep  per- 
fectly still.  *  *  *  The  world  looks  upon  the 
school  as  the  grown  man  would  regard  his  swaddling 
clothes,  and  upon  the  teaching  profession  as  a  sort 
of  colored  mammy,  a  thing  deserving  affectionate 
treatment,  and  yet  a  silly  old  institution  after  all. 
'  How's  school  ? '  is  the  constant  greeting  to  the 
teacher,  and  he  is  vain  enough  to  imagine  that  there 
is  some  interest  or  sympathy  in  the  question,  and 
usually  garrulous  enough  to  run  on  with  the  tale  of 
his  petty  troubles  and  triumphs,  imagining  that  the 
smile  of  amusement  or  contempt  worn  by  his 
auditors  is  one  of  sympathy  and  appreciation." 

John  looks  gloomy.  "  At  any  rate,"  he  says,  "  I 
shall  be  regarded  as  a  professional  man." 

"  You  may  be  by  district-school  teachers  who  sign 
their  letters  '  Prof.  Richard  Roe'.  But  the  leaders 
of  the  profession  do  not  think  so.  The  first  point 
made  by  C.  0.  Thompson  before  the  American 
Institute  of  Instruction  in  1867,  was  this:  '  There 
is  no  recognized  profession  of  teaching  ; '  G.  Stanley 
Hall,  in  1882,  began  his  paper  before  the  Depart- 
ment of  Superintendence  011  chairs  of  pedagogy  by 


TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS   FOR   MEN  41 

a  reference  to  the  brief  chapter  on  snakes  in  Ire- 
land ;  and  in  1872  James  H.  Hoose,  in  a  paper 
before  the  New  York  State  Teachers'  Association  on 
the  term  Profession  as  applied  to  teaching,  said  that 
the  science  of  teaching  had  no  maxims,  no  customs 
and  established  usages,  no  positive  subject-matter 
codified,  no  common  theory  of  nature,  no  examin- 
ations or  removals  by  the  fraternity  solely,  no  estab- 
lished rules  of  practice,  no  systematic  code  of  prin- 
ciples, no  bodies  to  supervise  rules — in  short,  none 
of  the  bases  upon  which  a  profession  is  founded. 

u  Make  a  single  application.  Nothing  is  more 
distinctive  of  a  profession  than  that  its  right  is 
recognized  to  determine  its  own  membership.  Yet, 
who  ever  heard  of  a  board  of  examiners  composed 
of  teachers?  A  bright  woman  wrote  to  the  Ohio 
Educational  Monthly  *  : 

"  '  I  was  examined  in  the  great  and  glorious  Com- 
monwealth of  Ohio  for  the  first  time  about  three 
years  ago.  The  Board  of  Examiners  consisted  of  a 
preacher,  a  doctor,  and  a  lawyer.  The  following  are 
some  of  the  marks  : 

Grade,  1st  class.  Orthography,  10. 

Reading,  7.  Arithmetic,  9J. 

Theory  and  practice  of  teaching,  10. 

*  xxx.  428. 


42  TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS 

"  '  I  could  not  understand,  neither  can  I  yet  fully 
comprehend,  how  I  could  teach  ten  when  I  could 
only  read  seven.  It  is  hardly  just  to  certify  that  a 
teacher  is  first-class  when  she  can  only  cipher  nine 
and  a  half.  The  Association  said  we  must  exalt 
our  profession,  and  if  we  are  first-class,  let  us  be 
first-class  all  the  way  through.  I  do  not  consider 
teaching  a  profession.  I  regard  it  as  a  business, — 
not  a  very  profitable  one,  but  a  very  honorable  one. 
It  may  be,  if  we  should  make  the  attempt,  that  we 
could  exalt  the  business  into  a  profession.  If  not, 
we  might  bring  the  professions  down  to  our  level. 
The  doctor's  certificate  might  be  made  to  read  : 
Measles,  10.  Theory  and  practice 

Cholera,  3.  of  medicine,  9  J. 

Typhoid  fever,  6  J, 

"  '  We  all  know  that  there  are  good  and  bad  law- 
yers, and  we  might  grade  them  something  like  this  : 
Criminal  Code,  7|.       Theory  and  practice 
Real  Estate,  3|f  of  law,  9^. 

Divorce,  10. 

"  '  It  would  never  do  to  assert  that  there  are  good 
preachers  and  bad  preachers,  but  we  may  say  there 
are  a  few  poor  preachers,  and  if  any  one  is  offended 
we  can  explain  that  poor  means  lean.  Their  license 
might  be  filled  out : 


TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS    FOR    MEN  43 

Repentance,  6|.  Election,  8. 

Conversion,  7T3T.  Theory  and  practice 

Eternal  punishment,  10.         of  religion,  5J. 

"  '  I  forgot  one  important  matter.  These  papers 
ought  to  be  good  for  one  year  or  two,  according  to 
the  grades,  and  only  in  the  county  where  issued.' ' 

And  not  even  yet  is  John  discouraged.  "  I  may 
not  get  money  or  fame/'  he  says  bravely,  compress- 
ing his  lips  ;  "  I  may  not  even  command  the  respect 
due  to  a  professional  man.  But  at  least  I  can  give 
my  life  to  making  better  men  and  women.  I  will 
study  the  problem  of  education,  evolve  my  princi- 
ples, apply  them  with  fresh  differentiation  to  every 
pupil,  watch  the  development  of  the  child  that 
enters  a  primary  room  into  the  young  •man  that 
goes  out  into  the  world  better  and  truer  and  wiser 
and  more  useful  because  part  of  my  heart  and  life 
have  entered  into  him." 

"  You  mean  you  would  if  you  were  permitted  to, 
John.  But  you  must  remember  that  the  principal 
of  a  school  is  hired  by,  and  directed  by,  a  board  of 
education.  In  the  first  place,  you  have  got  to 
secure  a  position ;  and  in  interviewing  a  board  of 
education  with  reference  to  your  first  engagement, 
you  are  not  unlikely  to  encounter  some  unexpected 


44  TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS 

phenomena.  .When  you  are  in  you  have  got  to 
keep  in.  Your  engagement  may  be  only  during 
the  pleasure  of  the  board,  and  at  the  best  is  but  for 
a  year.  A  single  member  of  the  board  whose  inter- 
ference you  have  resented  or  whose  child  you  have 
slighted  may  defeat  your  re-election  ;  and  your  sys- 
tem, which  a  first  year  can  hardly  have  developed, 
not  to  say  put  into  operation,  must  be  thrown  aside 
when  you  encounter  the  new  problems  of  another 
school. 

"  Even  if  by  an  intelligent  or  indifferent  board  you 
are  allowed  to  remain,  you  are  hampered  by  restric- 
tions that  would  be  scouted  by  strictly  professional 
men.  Who  directs  a  minister  how  he  shall  preach 
his  sermon,  a  lawyer  how  he  shall  conduct  his  case, 
a  physician  how  he  shall  compound  his  prescrip- 
tion ?  But  a  teacher  works  under  a  course  of  study 
and  a  scheme  of  regulations  adopted  by  a  board  of 
education.  He  is  to  be  at  school  twenty  minutes 
before  the  hour,  to  stand  in  the  entry  during  recess, 
to  report  all  cases  of  discipline  for  approval,  and  to 
use  text-books  adopted  without  reference  to  his 
opinion  by  men  ignorant  of  the  very  subject-matter. 
Gail  Hamilton  says  that  a  member  of  the  board  of 
education  in  A\7ashington  objected  to  consulting 


TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS    FOR   MEN  45 

teachers  regarding  text-books  on  the  ground  that  it 
was  not  dignified  for  employers  to  consult  those  they 
employed.  How  would  you  like  to  develop  charac- 
ter under  such  supervision  as  that?  " 

"But  surely  you  will  admit/'  urges  John,  "that 
many  noble  men  are  teachers.  How  did  they  come 
to  choose  this  business,  if  it  was  so  unattractive  ?" 

"They  didn't  choose  it,"  I  reply;  "they  chose 
something  else  to  which  teaching  was  to  be  a  step- 
ping-stone. 

"  '  Where  is  there  a  man  among  us/  says  the 
Schoolmaster*,  '  from  superintendent  down,  who  be- 
gan to  teacli  with  the  distinct  purpose  of  making 
that  a  life-work?  Find  him  and  lie  will  be  one  in 
a  thousand.  We  have  drifted  into  the  business,  and 
we  have  not  drifted  and  cannot  drift  out  of  it.' ' 

"Truly,  ()  Socrates,"  says  John,  it  seemeth  that  I 
should  consider  further  before  I  adopt  a  profession." 

"0  Alcibiades,"  I  reply,  "your  head  is  level." 


Fellow  members  of  this  Association,  the  truth  is 
not  to  be  spoken  at  all  times,  and  at  these  meetings 
you  do  not  always  speak  it,  the  whole  of  it.  But 
the  subject  assigned  me  by  our  president  calls  for  a 

MU14. 


46  TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS 

practical,  hard-headed  statement  of  facts.  Have  I 
not  presented  the  case  fairly?  Would  you,  with 
the  exceptionally  fortunate  experience  that  has 
attended  most  of  you,  would  you  advise  a  young 
man  of  superior  ability  to  become  a  teacher?  Do 
you  want  your  son  to  settle  down  to  teaching  as  the 
work  of  his  life? 

I  yield  to  no  one  in  my  appreciation  of  the  joys 
of  teaching.  The  happiest  work  I  ever  did  was  in 
the  school-room.  As  I  write,  my  eyes  suffuse  when 
I  recall  the  class  that  graduated  thirteen  years  ago 
at  a  village  school  a  few  miles  north  of  here,  and 
remember  the  loyalty,  the  trustworthiness,  the  con- 
fidence of  those  boys  and  girls  who  were  rather 
companions  than  pupils.  But  my  salary  was  prov- 
ing insufficient,  and  an  opportunity  to  engage  in 
other  business  came  to  me  just  as  I  was  chafing 
under  restrictions  upon  my  work,  slight  in  them- 
selves, but  significant  as  showing  by  how  indifferent 
a  touch  the  board  of  education  may  topple  down 
the  foundations  the  teacher  is  building  upon.  And 
so,  after  six  years'  experience,  I  gave  up  teaching ; 
and  I  have  never  regretted  it.  Indeed,  I  have 
wondered  sometimes  how  a  man  with  ability  to 
succeed  at  anything  else  should  continue  to  be  a 


TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS    FOR    MEN  47 

teacher.  Under  its  present  conditions,  the  business 
of  teaching  deserves  to  command  only  third-class 
talent ;  and  the  fact  that  some  of  the  men  whom 
this  Association  assembles  are  by  their  own  assent 
teachers  might  be  looked  upon  as  an  interposition 
of  Providence  in  behalf  of  our  children. 

These  things  ought  not  so  to  be ;  they  are  not 
always  so  to  be  :  how  long  depends  much  upon  how 
clearly  we  recognize  the  causes,  and  with  what  unity 
we  strive  to  overcome  them. 

The  usual  appeal  of  the  daily  newspaper  or  the 
public  orator  is  for  Higher  Salaries,  as  though  a 
legislative  enactment  raising  the  compensation  of 
teachers  50  per  cent,  would  raise  the  quality  of  their 
work  in  the  same  proportion. 

To  experienced  teachers,  especially  to  those  ac- 
customed to  read  and  to  write  upon  this  question; 
the  fallacy  of  such  an  assumption  need  not  be 
pointed  out.  There  are  at  the  present  time  hun- 
dreds of  good  teachers  ready  to  be  engaged  and  to 
do  the  best  work  of  which  they  are  capable  at 
the  salaries  now  paid  ;  and  they  cannot  get  places 
because  of  methods  of  appointment,  especially  in 
cities,  that  give  such  places  to  persons  whose  chief 
recommendation  is  that  they  are  unqualified  to  do 
anything  else. 


48  TEACHING    AS    A    BUSINESS 

"  Pat/'  said  one  Irishman  to  another,  as  they 
paused  from  ditch-digging  to  mop  their  brows, 
"  Pat,  what  business  would  you  like  best  if  you  had 
the  choosing  of  it?  " 

"  Why,  for  a  nice,  dacent,  clane  bit  of  worruk,  I 
think  I'd  like  to  be  a  Bishop." 

And  so  because  teaching  is  to  the  incompetent  a 
nice,  dacent,  clane  bit  of  worruk,  they  are  lifted 
into  it  by  those  who  otherwise  would  have  to  sup- 
port them.  Raise  salaries  one-half  without  raising 
the  standard  of  qualification,  and  not  only  do  you 
fix  more  firmly  than  ever  in  place  these  relatives  of 
the  board  and  friends  of  local  demagogues,  but  you 
turn  the  hungry  eyes  of  politicians  toward  places 
not  now  considered  fat  enough  to  be  worthy  spoil, 
and  displace  some  of  the  best  of  the  teachers  you 
already  have. 

"  The  wages  paid  by  the  community  for  teaching 
in  our  public  schools,"  says  the  Hon.  S.  M.  Clarke*, 
"  are  ample — are  prodigal  in  some  cases — to  youth 
and  inexperience.  They  are  scant  and  inadequate 
to  age  and  experience.  But — save  exceptionally — 
supply  governs  price.  Since  the  public — the  demand 
— is  satisfied  with  youth  as  a  teacher,  and  the  sup- 

*  The  Schoolmaster,  Chicago,  Hi.  125, 


TEACHING    AS    A    BUSINESS    FOR    MEN  49 

ply  of  youth  for  teaching  is  so  abundant  that  every 
school  board  in  the  land  is  worried  with  an  excess 
of  applicants,  that  will  inevitably  fix  teaching  wage, 
and  the  level  of  it  will  be  youth's  wage.  Men  and 
women  who  give  their  lives  to  teaching  must  con- 
front that  grim  and  disheartening  fact." 

A  project  supplementary  to  arbitrary  increase  of 
salaries,  is  that  of  Pensions  to  retired  teachers.  Here 
there  is  among  teachers  some  discussion  f,  though  I 
should  judge  the  weight  of  opinion  was  manifestly 
against  them. 

The  objection  just  urged  applies  with  even  stronger 
force  against  this  innovation,  since  the  incompetent 
who  have  flocked  after  the  places  where  they  could 
get  pay  for  very  little  work,  will  clutch  after  them 
the  more  greedily  when  there  is  attached  to  them 
the  possibility  of  pay  for  no  work  at  all. 

But  there  is  another  consideration.  Already  the 
most  discouraging  feature  of  the  profession  is  that 
the  teacher  is  looked  upon  as  an  impractical  man, 
useful  enough  to  take  care  of  boys  and  girls  under 
rules  established  by  lawyers,  doctors,  and  business- 
men, but  unfitted  for  participation  in  any  of  the 
serious  work  of  the  community.  I  remember  read- 

t  Indiana  School  Journal^  xxvi.339. 


50  TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS 

ing  of  a  schoolhouse  dedication,  where  at  the  very 
close  of  the  exercises,  after  the  audience  was  wearied 
by  speeches  from  butcher  and  baker  and  candlestick- 
maker,  the  chairman  remarked  benignly :  "  We 
desire  that  at  this  festival  of  rejoicing  all  classes  of 
the  community  should  be  represented  upon  the 
platform,  and  therefore  we  will  call  upon  the  princi- 
pal of  the  school  for  a  few  brief  remarks."  Indeed, 
a  western  normal  school  recently  proposed  to  ap- 
point as  principal  some  thorough-going  and  success- 
ful business  man,  one  of  brains,  but  wholly  free 
from  pedagogical  superstitions,  who  should  intro- 
duce life  and  spirit  and  business  methods  into  the 
school. 

"  Savans  and  donkeys  to  the  rear,"  was  Napoleon's 
order  in  Egypt. 

For  this  conception  of  our  calling  we  are  much 
at  fault.  Listen,  for  instance,  to  this  proposition  by 
Adolph  Douai  *  : 

"  The  teacher  ought  to  be  a  pensioner  of  the  State  : 
every  care  for  his  existence  should  be  taken  from  off 
his  mind.  He  should  be  spared  every  indignity  of  a 
dependent  condition,  every  struggle  for  existence,  in 
order  to  belong  to  his  calling  exclusively,  and  to 
embrace  it  with  devotion." 

*  In  New  England  Journal  of  Education,  xii,228, 


TEACHING    AS    A    BUSINESS    FOR    MEN  51 

This  is  making  teachers  not  merely  babes  but 
intellectual  eunuchs.  It  is  manhood  in  the  teacher 
that  commands  respect,  and  that  makes  men  of  his 
scholars  ;  and  what  sort  of  manhood  is  that  which 
cannot  contract  its  OWTII  bills  and  pay  them  and  lay 
by  something  for  a  rainy  day?  The  word  " pen- 
sion "  suggests  a  physical  cripple  ;  but  he  is  an 
intellectual  hunchback  who  embraces  a  profession 
in  youth  with  the  hope  that  in  old  age  he  may  be 
permitted  to  sun  himself  on  the  veranda  of  a  State 
poorhouse. 

I  know  that  pensions  are  paid  to  retired  judges, 
as  well  as  to  crippled  soldiers  ;  and  when  the  occu- 
pation of  teaching  ranks  with  that  of  judges,  and 
our  salaries  correspond  with  theirs,  we  may  be  able 
to  receive  without  self-reproach  what  will  then  be  a 
pension  liberal  in  amount.  The  man  who  would 
not  care  to  hold  out  his  hat  on  a  street-corner  may 
accept  with  beaming  satisfaction  a  "  testimonial " 
from  his  fellow-citizens.  But  with  salaries  as  they 
are  and  teachers  as  they  are,  the  man  who  drew  his 
pension  would  look  like  a  beggar :  and  feel  like  one. 

Without  discussing  the  question  of  Tenure  of 
Office,  I  would  merely  suggest  that  in  this  effort  we 
are  asking  what  the  well-paid  officers  of  corpora- 


52  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

tions  do  not  find  necessary.  The  bank-teller  and 
cashier  hold  office  only  for  a  year ;  and  they  are 
usually  re-elected, — if  they  are  still  this  side  of  the 
St.  Lawrence.  The  insurance-president,  the  cotton- 
mill  superintendent  are  subject  to  annual  election ; 
but  it  seldom  worries  them.  The  fact  is,  in  all 
such  positions  the  man  knows  that  he  is  practically 
indispensable,  and  his  confidence  rests  on  that 
assurance. 

Now  why  should  not  the  teacher  make  himself 
indispensable  in  the  same  way?  The  answer  is 
easy  :  the  board  of  education  does  not  know  how 
to  measure  his  work,  as  a  board  of  di rectors  'knows 
how  to  measure  the  work  of  a  bank-cashier  or  a 
cotton-mill  superintendent. 

For  instance,  perhaps  no  theory  of  education  is 
more  thoroughly  established  than  Jacotot's  of  mas- 
terly inactivity.  The  teacher  is  most  useful  when 
he  is  seemingly  most  useless.  The  little  boy  who 
couldn't  do  his  problems,  and  didn't  see  why  he 
needed  to  learn  because  when  he  was  a  man  he 
would  be  a  teacher  and  make  his  scholars  do  'em, 
hit  upon  a  great  educational  principle. 

But  what  would  the  average  member  of  a  board 
of  education  think  of  it  ?  You  know  the  story  of 


TF-:.\('Tn\(i   AS  A   r.rsixKss  KOI;  MKX  53 

the  petroliareh  who  hired   a  string-quartette  for  his 

daughter'-  ivc.'ption.  Passing  by.  he  observed  that 
one  of  the  violinists  was  not  playing. 

"See  here,  mister,"  he  said,  "what's  the  matter 
with  you  ?  Why  aren't  you  at  it  ?  " 

"Why.  sir.  I  have  a  sixteen  hars'  rest  here." 

"Rest  Vat  three  dollars  a  nUrht?  Not  if  I  know 
it  :  you  start  that  tiddle  !  " 

So  the  average  member  of  a  board  of  education 
Bits  l"-ide  the  teacher  and  see<  a  class  come  in  list- 
md  indifferent,  sees  them  mareli  hack  to  their 
half  an  hour  afterward  brimming  with  life 
and  rntlm-iasm.  reflects  that  they  are  bright  child- 
r«  n  if  his  hoy  happens  to  he  among  them,  but 
declares  the  teacher  has  the  easiest  work  he  ever 
saw — nothing  to  do  hut  sit  still  and  listen.  He 
never dreama — how  should  lie? — that  the  life  and 
enthusiasm  these  thirty  scholars  carry  away  have 
been  drained  out  of  the  teacher  as  positively  as  his 
hlood  would  he  drained  by  a  vein-opening.  In 
reverent  imitation  of  the  M-ivjit  Master,  the  true 
teacher  may  say  at  the  do<e  of  school,  "Virtue  has 
LV'iie  out  of  me."  Hut  it  has  <;ono  out  unobtrusively, 
perhaps  unconsciously;  and  this  <juiet,  ohst'i'vant, 
Sympathetic  teacher,  who  has  poured  out  his  heart's 


54  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

life  for  his  scholars,  may  be  displaced  by  a  brawl- 
ing braggart  who  will  make  more  impression  be- 
cause he  makes  more  noise. 

And  this  leads  to  what  seems  to  me  more  import- 
ant than  raising  of  salaries,  or  establishment  of 
pensions,  or  lengthened  terms  of  service — and  that 
is  Discrimination  in  Employment. 

"These,  then,"  says  President  Eliot*,  "are  the 
three  main  features  of  a  wTell-organized  public 
school  service :  careful  selection  of  teachers  by  ex- 
amination and  probation ;  ultimate  appointment, 
without  limitation  of  time ;  and  a  system  of  retir- 
ing annuities." 

All  I  ask  is  that  reforms  be  attempted  in  this 
order. 

I  can  only  hint  at  some  of  the  immediate  steps 
we  might  be  taking. 

(1)  Teachers  should  discriminate  among  them- 
selves and  against  themselves.  I  do  not  at  this 
moment  remember  conversing  with  a  teacher  about 
a  contemporary  teacher  superior  to  himself.  It 
amuses  one  wrhose  attention  has  been  called  to 
it  to  notice  how  inevitably  inquiry  about  a  fellow- 
teacher  leads  the  speaker  to  comparisons  favorable 

*  New  England  Journal  of  Education,  xi.20. 


TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS   FOR   MEN  55 

to  himself.  The  nightingale  has  a  tolerably  smooth 
voice,  but  somehow  it  lacks  breadth. 

Now  there  are  lawyers  who  will  admit  that  they 
have  superiors  at  the  bar.  If  Mr.  Evarts  were 
stricken  with  paralysis,  not  all  the  young  attorneys 
in  the  country  would  jump  upon  the  train  and  rush 
to  New  York  to  apply  for  his  position.  A  good 
many  of  them  would  be  aware  that  they  could 
not  fill  the  place. 

(2)  Teachers  should  be  men  among  men,  with 
nothing  in  their  dress  or  their  manner  or  their  con- 
versation to  indicate  that  their  functions  are  limited 
to  the  school-room. 

I  was  urging  one  of  the  normal  principals  in  this 
State  to  forward  a  certain  matter  before  the  Legis- 
lature, on  the  ground  that  he  was  so  free  from  the 
external  characteristics  of  the  pedagogue  that  he 
could  meet  the  members  on  a  level,  and  not  be  con- 
sidered an  impractical  visionary. 

61  Yes,"  he  said,  "  I  had  evidence  the  other  morn- 
ing that  I  am  not  recognized  at  forty  rods  as  a 
teacher.  I  had  been  riding  three  or  four  hours  on 
the  cars,  and  the  limited  accommodations  at  the 
Brack ett  House  did  not  enable  me  to  remove  all  the 
cinders.  I  sat  down  to  be  shaved,  and  the  barber 


56  TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS 

began  his  orchestral  accompaniment  by  inquiring 
where  I  had  played  the  night  before. 

"  '  Played  ? '  I  repeated. 

"  '  Why,  yes/  he  said  ;  '  don't  you  belong  to  Cal 
Wagner's  minstrel  troupe  ? ' 5 

There  are  men  in  the  profession,  who  if  they  saw 
themselves  as  the  public  looks  upon  them  would 
take  it  as  a  compliment  to  be  mistaken  for  a  nigger- 
minstrel. 

(3)  Trte  difference  in  the  results  of  good  teaching 
and  poor  teaching  should  be  proved  and  empha- 
sized and  illustrated.  It  is  a  common  assumption 
that  the  cost  of  educating  a  child  is  the  cost  of  his 
tuition  ;  hence  that  if  one  teacher  at  $1,000  a  year 
accomplishes  half  as  much  with  fifty  boys  as  an- 
other at  $2,000,  he  is  as  cheap,  and  it  becomes  a 
mere  question  of  the  quantity  one  cares  to  purchase. 
But  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  tuition  is  as  subordinate 
an  element  in  the  public  school  as  it  is  in  the  pri- 
vate school.  The  board  and  clothes  and  general 
care  of  the  boy  should  be  reckoned  as  part  of  the 
cost  of  his  education  ;  and  when  these  are  estimated 
it  becomes  a  question  of  $16,000  as  the  cost  of  edu- 
cating under  one  teacher,  against  $17,000  under  the 
other,  with  twice  the  results. 


TEACHING   AS   A    BUSINESS   FOR   MEN  57 

"  We  think  there  is  no  exaggeration  in  saying," 
reported  the  Committee  on  Normal  Schools  to  the 
New  York  Legislature*,  "that  a  teacher  who  under- 
stands his  business  will  accomplish  more  in  a  year 
than  is  accomplished  in  three  years  under  untrained 
instruction/'  Suppose  she  is  an  intermediate  teacher 
at  $300  a  year,  with  fifty  children  under  her ;  and 
that  a  competent  teacher  could  be  secured  for  $500. 
Then  estimating  the  home  expenses  of  each  child  at 
$300  a  year,  the  cost  of  securing  the  same  amount 
of  education  is  in  the  case  of  the  incompetent 
teacher  $45,900  as  against  $15,500  in  the  case  of  a 
superior  teacher. 

Nor  is  this  the  measure  of  the  extravagance  of 
hiring  poor  teachers.  The  old  Greek  musician 
charged  double  price  to  those  who  had  taken  les- 
sons before  coming  to  him — one  half  for  correcting 
bad  habits.  It  is  questionable  whether  the  bad 
habits  formed  under  an  incompetent  teacher  can  be 
eradicated  at  any  cost  of  time  and  money.  Your 
scholars  might  better  have  been  pupils  of  Mr. 
Wopsle's  great  aunt,  "  who  kept  a  school  in  the  vil- 
lage ;  that  is  to  say/'  as  Dickens  puts  it,  "  she  was 
a  ridiculous  old  woman  of  limited  means  and  un- 

*  Report  1879,  p.  41. 


58  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

limited  infirmity,  who  used  to  go  to  sleep  from  six 
to  seven  every  evening  in  the  society  of  youth  who 
paid  two  pence  per  week  each  for  the  improving 
opportunity  of  seeing  her  do  it." 

Nor  is  it  a  question  of  mental  loss  alone. 

Describing  the  effect  of  an  incompetent  teacher, 
the  National  Teachers'  Monthly*  said  some  years 
ago: 

"  Ere  long  the  unconscious  parent  is  pained  and 
startled  by  the  intelligence  that  the  child  is  no 
longer  doing  well.  He  is  warned  that  he  has  been 
absent.  The  influence  of  evil  associates,  unper- 
ceived  by  the  careless  or  stupid  teacher,  or  neglected, 
has  overpowered  her  influence,  notwithstanding  the 
immense  advantage  on  her  side,  and  truancy  and 
other  moral  delinquencies  ensue.  The  bright,  gen- 
tle, confiding  face  which  was  entrusted  you  by  the 
hopeful  parent  loses  its  innocent,  cleanly  look,  and 
dirt  and  wile  and  sullenness  overspread  it.  Correct 
deportment  is  despised,  and  good  scholarship  loses 
its  attractions.  He  has  entered  an  atmosphere 
where  disobedience,  insubordination,  and  rebellion 
are  rampant,  and  the  time  and  strength  that  should 
be  devoted  to  unfolding  the  mysteries  of  knowledge 


TEACHING    AS    A    BUSINESS    FOR    MEN  59 

are  enlisted  in  a  harsh  and  hopeless  struggle  to 
maintain  an  odious  and  barren  discipline." 

"  A  weed,"  says  Emerson,  "  is  a  plant  whose  vir- 
tues have  not  yet  been  discovered."  There  are 
weeds  in  every  school-room  that  the  indifferent 
teacher  neglects  or  casts  into  the  highway,  to  become 
desperados  and  criminals.  There  are  teachers  who 
would  recognize  strength  under  the  rudeness  of  such 
natures,  and  transform  them  by  sympathy  and  cul- 
ture into  pillars  of  the  school  and  of  the  State. 
Do  you  think  the  public  could  afford  to  make  a 
hundred  dollars  difference  in  the  salaries  of  two 
such  teachers  ? 

(4)  There  should  be  less  development  of  elaborate 
systems,  and  more  recognition  of  the  personality  of 
the  teacher. 

11  Education  is  a  dynamical,  not  a  mechanical 
process,"  says  Dr.  Arnold,  "  and  the  more  powerful 
and  vigorous  the  mind  of  the  teacher,  the  more 
clearly  and  readily  he  can  grasp  things,  the  better 
fitted  he  is  to  cultivate  the  mind  of  another." 

"  Few  people  realize  the  fact,"  says  President 
Eliot,  "  that  there  can  be  no  good  teaching  without 
a  quick  sympathy  and  perception  in  the  teacher, 
and  a  strong  personal  influence  going  out  from 
him." 


60  TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS 

Canning  summarizes,  when  he  says  it  is  not  the 
harness  but  the  horses  that  draw  the  chariot. 
.    "I  do  not  care  what  you  study/'  says  Emerson, 
"  I  only  care  to  know  who  is  to  be  your  teacher." 

Says  the  Century,  "  The  minister  of  public  instruc- 
tion who  boasted  that  he  could  look  at  his  watch 
and  know  just  what  question  was  being  asked  in 
every  school  of  a  given  grade  in  France,  was  a  good 
illustration  of  a  system-worshiper." 

Another  writer  has  said  :  {'  A  school  committee 
hires  a  superintendent,  and  then  thinks  it  can  safely 
employ  an  inferior  class  of  teachers,  just  as  an  in- 
ferior class  of  laborers  may  safely  be  employed  for 
digging  or  sweeping  if  a  smart  overseer  is  hired  to 
watch  them.  .  .  Now  a  gain  in  superintendence 
which  is  procured  at  the  expense  of  a  loss  of  direct 
teaching  power  is  too  dearly  bought.  The  reason 
of  this  is  contained  in  a  self-evident  proposition 
which  all  people  admit  on  its  bare  statement,  and 
yet  too  often  lose  sight  of.  A  good  school  is  not  a 
grand  building,  or  a  nice  set  of  furniture,  or  a  series 
of  text-books  selected  by  a  committee,  or  a  pro- 
gramme of  studies  made  up  by  the  superintendent ; 
and  all  these  things  put  together,  though  each  were 
the  best  of  the  kind,  would  not  make  a  good  school ; 
for  a  good  school  is  a  man  or  a  woman." 


TEACHING    AS    A    BUSINESS    FOR    MEN  61 

The  system,  however  complete,  can  give  only  the 
general  principles.  The  indispensable  individual 
application  to  each  pupil  can  be  made  only  by  the 
discriminating  and  sympathetic  teacher. 

The  line  between  amateur  and  professional  work 
may  be  drawn  through  just  the  point  where  the 
teacher  recognizes  that  his  study  is  not  of  the  sub- 
ject-matter but  of  the  class. 

John  B.  Gough  was  once  asked  if  he  did  not  find 
it  wearisome  to  repeat  the  same  anecdotes  night 
after  night.  He  replied  that  for  the  first  two  or 
three  times  he  delivered  it,  he  enjoyed  his  lecture. 
Then  it  became  for  a  dozen  nights  common-place 
and  tedious,  and  he  dreaded  to  begin  it.  But  by 
this  time  it  was  familiar  to  him  and  he  began  to 
turn  his  attention  from  the  lecture  itself  to  the 
audience  as  affected  by  it.  This  always  proved  an 
unflagging  source  of  interest.  As  he  approached  a 
humorous  or  a  pathetic  climax  he  began  to  wonder 
whether  it  would  be  appreciated,  and  he  learned  to 
experiment  upon  expression  and  emphasis  to  see 
just  what  was  surest  to  capture  the  particular  audi- 
ence before  him.  When  this  stage  was  reached  he 
was  sure  of  quite  as  much  entertainment  from  the 
audience  as  they  could  get  from  him, 


62  TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS 

This  is  the  attitude  of  the  professional  teacher. 
He  does  not  complain  languidly  that  he  is  tired  of 
teaching  arithmetic  because  he  knows  all  about  it. 
He  may  know  all  about  addition  of  fractions,  and 
what  are  on  general  principles  the  best  methods 
of  teaching  it,  but  he  does  not  know  till  he  exper- 
iments just  how  addition  of  fractions  wTill  strike 
the  mind  of  Tommy  Jones.  The  recitation  teaches 
him  nothing  new  about  fractions,  but  it  teaches  him 
a  good  deal  about  Tommy  Jones. 

Now  that  is  a  sort  of  study  the  system  cannot 
provide  for.  "  The  teacher  may  adapt  methods  but 
should  never  adopt  them."  "  The  man  who  would 
translate  a  book  out  of  one  language  into  another 
must  know  both,"  and  the  teacher  who  would  put 
ideas  into  a  child's  mind  must  know  the  mind  as 
well  as  the  ideas.  "  It  is  not  by  his  own  taste  but 
by  that  of  the  fish,  that  a  sportsman  baits  his  hook," 
says  Macaulay,  and  the  teacher  will  present  his 
subject  not  as  would  be  clearest  to  himself,  but  as 
experience  and  observation  shows  him  will  be  clear- 
est to  this  particular  pupil. 

"  To  be  able  to  find  out  the  peculiar  constitution 
of  each  child's  mind,"  says  Jean  Paul  Richter,  "so 
as  to  bring  wrhat  you  would  teach  down  to  the  level 


TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS    FOR    MEN  63 

of  its  understanding,  and  yet  to  make  it  work  in 
such  a  way  as  to  seize  upon  and  comprehend  the 
subject  and  reproduce  it,  this  is  teaching  :  and  noth- 
ing else  deserves  the  name." 

Such  considerations  I  would  urge  upon  the  pub- 
lic, in  conversation,  at  associations, — and  in  those 
educational  columns  of  local  newspapers  that  prin- 
cipals should  seek  to  secure  and  control.  Especially 
would  I  avoid  assuming  at  these  associations  any 
attitude  that  makes  examinations  less  severe,  posi- 
tion less  dependent  on  results,  simple  incumbency 
more  secure.  By  etymology,  the  sinecurist  is  long- 
lived,  and  if  we  wait  for  the  lymphatic  ins  to  die 
off,  young  and  vigorous  outs  will  stagnate  for  want 
of  opportunity. 

I  do  not  quarrel  with  Life-Tenure,  or  even  with 
Pensions,  provided  we  can  first  be  assured  of  what 
seems  to  me  an  indispensable  pre-requisite  to  the 
beneficial  working  of  either, — viz.,  that  the  work  of 
superior  teachers  be  recognized  and  secured.  I  do 
not  ask  that  only  competent  teachers  be  hired  : — in 
fifty  years  under  the  most  favorable  conditions  we 
shall  not  have  enough  competent  teachers  for  our 
schools.  I  do  not  ask  even  that  the  average  teacher 
recognize  the  demands  his  work  makes  upon  him, 
or  try  to  meet  them. 


64  TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS 

But  I  do  ask  that  the  teacher  who  is  competent, 
who  does  recognize  these  demands,  and  who  does 
meet  them,  shall  no  longer  be  compelled  to  contend 
for  a  position  on  equal  terms  with  a  beardless  lad 
from  college,  or  a  sole  support  of  a  widowed  mother, 
or  a  woodman-spare-that-tree  old  fossil  whom  the 
committee  are  too  tender-hearted  to  turn  out.  There 
are  a  few  men  who  love  teaching,  who  were  born  to 
enlist  the  sympathy  of  children,  and  who  devote 
their  lives  to  study  of  a  science  of  which  the  art  is 
so  delicate  and  the  results  are  so  momentous.  Show 
these  men  the  same  recognition  that  is  shown  physi- 
cians and  lawyers  and  clergymen,  by  asking,  not 
What  shall  be  the  salary  ?  but  Where  can  we  find 
the  man  ? 

To  put  it  briefly,  the  fatal  flaw  in  our  status  as  a 
profession,  is  that  the  average  school-board  is  a 
checker-board.  In  playing  draughts  the  only  im- 
portant consideration  is  that  the  square  be  covered. 
If  a  man  rolls  to  the  floor  out  of  reach,  another  will 
do  as  well,  or  a  penny  or  a  button  will  serve, — any- 
thing to  show  that  the  place  is  not  empty.  And  so 
if  a  principal  resigns,  why,  anybody  will  do  that 
can  sit  in  the  chair  without  being  put  out  by  the 
big  boys, — your  cousin,  my  nephew,  this  graduate 


TEACHING    AS    A    BUSINESS    FOR    MEN  65 

who  wants  to  earn  money  to  pay  his  college-debts. 

Now  suppose  we  could  convert  our  school-boards 
into  chess-boards.  When  a  knight  falls  to  the  carpet 
you  do  not  replace  him  by  a  pawn,  or  a  rook  by  a 
bishop ;  and  you  will  make  almost  any  sacrifice  to 
retain  your  queen.  One  of  these  pawns  may  some- 
time be  a  queen,  but  not  till  by  long  probation 
and  many  steps  of  progress,  she  has  won  her  posi- 
tion in  the  queen's  row. 

There  should  be  a  Queen's  Row  in  teaching,  and 
all  the  steps  of  progress  toward  it  should  be  definite 
and  certificated. 

Then,  and  not  till  then,  the  Teacher's  Business 
will  become  the  Teacher's  Profession. 


THE  TEACHER'S  COMMERCIAL  VALUE 


One  of  those  melancholy  books  written  by  an 
alleged  humorist  a  few  years  ago,  began  like  this : 

"  Some  write  books  for  fame  ;  some  write  because 
their  friends  insist  upon  it ;  some  because  of  a 
heaven-born  instinct  .that  must  find  utterance  ;  some 
because  mankind  is  thirsty  for  what  they  have  to 
say.  But  I  write  for  ducats.  This  book  is  pub- 
lished to  make  money  out  of." 

The  joke  and  the  book  fell  flat ;  deservedly.  The 
man  meant  to  be  funny  ;  he  simply  showed  himself 
stupid.  He  was  blind  to  the  universal  instinct  that 
whatever  is  artistic  demands  a  motive  above  mere 
gain.  The  laborer  may  shovel  for  his  dollar  a  day  : 
but  in  proportion  as  intellect,  purpose,  ideal,  enter 
into  work,  the  necessity  increases  that  the  basis  of 
effort  be  professional.  And  the  essence  of  profes- 
sional work  is  that  however  high  or  low  be  the  price 
accepted  for  service,  when  the  service  is  promised  it 
is  to  be  rendered  with  all  zeal. 

(67) 


68  TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS 

The  brakeman  who  was  reproved  for  pronouncing 
Canisteo  indistinctly,  and  inquired  indignantly  if 
the  passengers  expected  a  fine  tenor  voice  for  ten 
shillings  a  day,  spoke  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
artisan  who  means  that  his  work  shall  do  justice  to 
his  employer ;  the  artist  means  that  his  work  shall 
be  worthy  of  himself. 

Unhappy  the  teacher  that  does  not  classify  him- 
self an  artist.  Miss  Brackett  well  says  : 

"  The  teacher  who  is  not  willing,  so  long  as  she  is 
an  apprentice,  to  work  with  her  whole  soul  for  $300, 
will  never  reach  $1/200.  I  care  not  if  she  under- 
stands two  languages,  or  can  calculate  eclipses,  or 
knows  all  the  lists  of  all  the  kings  and  all  the 
emperors  from  Confucius  down.  She  may  even 
have  all  the  knowledge  attainable :  but  without  a 
reverence  for  the  art  of  education,  all  her  acquire- 
ments will  be  the  broken  pieces  which  she  may  hold 
in  her  hand  while  the  '  beistigos  band  '  is  lacking. 
We  do  sadly  need  in  many  cases  the  reverence  of 
the  true  artist  for  his  work.  We  do  sadly  need 
teachers  who  are  artists  and  not  artisans*." 

But  there  is  a  certain  satisfaction  in  feeling  that 
the  quality  of  one's  work  is  recognized  and  paid 

*  American  Journal  of  Education,  Oct.,  1877, 


THE  TEACHER'S  COMMERCIAL  VALUE          69 

for,  and  it  is  from  this  subordinate  point  of  view 
that  I  ask  you  to  consider  some  elements  of  the 
teacher's  commercial  value. 

Character  has  commercial  value. 

And  the  first  element  of  character  I  shall  men- 
tion is  Integrity.  It  is  worth  observing  that  this 
word,  which  properly  means  "  wholeness  ",  has  been 
limited  until  it  comes  to  mean  trustworthiness  in 
business  transactions,  the  common  sense  of  man- 
kind thus  formulating  the  conviction  that  of  all  de- 
ficiencies the  most  fatal  is  that  a  man's  business 
word  is  not  to  be  depended  on. 

Especially  is  this  true  of  the  teacher.  The  rela- 
tions under  which  he  meets  the  parents  of  his  pupils 
are  mostly  those  of  business ;  the  opinions  of  him 
formed  by  those  parents  will  depend  largely  upon 
his  promptness  in  payment.  Now  perhaps  there  is 
no  other  kind  of  contempt  so  bitter,  so  acrimonious, 
as  that  felt  by  a  small  tradesman  who  is  embar- 
rassed in  his  own  payments  by  the  delinquency  of 
customers  who  seem  to  him  entirely  able  to  pay. 
To  the  grocer,  the  milkman,  the  shoemaker,  the 
teacher's  salary  looks  enormous ;  and  if  he  lets  his 
bills  run,  accumulates  excuses,  and  finally  seems 
likely  to  default  altogether,  these  men  become  violent 


70  TEACHING    AS    A    BUSINESS 

in  their  expressions  of  indignation  and  contempt. 
I  have  known  one  of  the  best  instructors  in  the 
State,  holding  a  prominent  position  at  a  high  salary, 
reduced  to  ask  credit  for  a  beefsteak  under  pretence 
of  having  left  his  pocket-book  in  his  other  trousers, 
and  humiliated  by  having  that  credit  contemptu- 
ously refused. 

How  are  pupils  to  respect  a  teacher  who  has  in 
the  community  a  reputation  like  that  ?  Their  lips 
soon  fall  into  the  habitual  curl  of  scorn  that  they 
have  seen  on  their  parents'  lips  whenever  the  teach- 
er's name  is  mentioned. 

But  there  is  a  reflex  influence  upon  the  teacher 
himself.  The  first  demand  society  makes  upon  a 
man  is  that  he  pay  his  way ;  and  the  three-handed 
men  find  that  the  little  behind-hand  interferes  seri- 
ously with  the  work  of  the  other  two.  You  know 
the  story  of  the  minister  who  used  regularly  on 
Saturday  night  to  borrow  a  five-dollar  bill  of  one  of 
his  deacons,  and  as  regularly  to  return  it  on  Mon- 
day morning.  Having  marked  the  bill  lent,  to  be 
sure  the  one  returned  was  identical,  the  deacon 
asked  him  why  he  kept  borrowing  this  money  he 
never  used. 

"  Why,  brother  Brown,"  was  the  reply,  "the  fact 


THE  TEACHER'S  COMMERCIAL  VALUE          71 

is  I  preach  better  when  I  am  on  a  sound  financial 
basis." 

We  all  do  our  work  better  when  we  are  on 
a  sound  financial  basis.  "  Income  one  hundred 
pounds,  expenses  ninety-nine  pounds,  nineteen  and 
six-pence/'  says  Thackeray  in  effect,  somewhere, 
"  result,  dignified  happiness.  Income  one  hundred 
pounds,  expenses  one  hundred  pounds  and  sixpence, 
result,  a  sneaking  misery." 

One  of  the  normal  principajs  in  this  State,  told 
me  once  that  he  had  been  unable  to  lay  up  much 
money,  but  that  when  he  began  teaching  he  had 
made  a  rule  from  which  he  had  never  varied  :  so 
to  limit  his  expenses,  that  when  he  drew  his  quar- 
ter's salary  he  had  no  bills  to  pay  out  of  it, — he 
was  always  sure  to  be  at  least  three  months  ahead. 
The  man  with  even  that  much  start  has  an  advant- 
age usually  underestimated  over  his  fellow  that  is 
living  from  hand  to  mouth,  or  is  contracting  bills  he 
only  hopes  to  pay.  Is  it  Lowell  who  says  that  the 
consciousness  of  a  well-fitting  gown  gives  woman  at 
church  a  serenity  that  piety  cannot  fully  impart? 
What  a  well-fitting  dress  is  to  the  woman,  a  well-filled 
pocket-book  is  to  the  man.  He  has  no  tradesmen  to 
avoid,  no  duns  to  evade,  no  excuses  to  make,  and, 


72  TEACHING   AS   A    BUSINESS 

always  in  the  wake  of  duns  and  excuses,  no  transpar- 
ent falsehoods  to  tell.  He  can  look  every  man  in 
the  eye,  can  buy  where  he  chooses,  and  can  have 
what  he  wants  because  he  has  disciplined  himself  to 
want  only  what  he  can  have. 

To  the  teacher  this  attitude  is  especially  import- 
ant for  this  reason  :  his  power  with  his  trustees 
depends  mainly  upon  his  independence.  If  he  is  a 
superior  teacher  he  can  command  a  superior  posi- 
tion, if  not  in  this  school  in  some  other ;  so  if  the 
trustees  propose  to  reduce  his  salary  or  to  hamper 
him  by  unworthy  restrictions,  he  has  only  to  say  to 
them  :  "  Gentlemen,  you  evidently  want  a  different 
kind  of  man,  and  my  resignation  gives  you  a  chance 
to  look  him  up." 

But  to  find  the  right  place  may  require  waiting, 
some  weeks,  possibly  some  months,  without  employ- 
ment and  without  salary.  With  all  bills  paid  and 
money  ahead  this  is  easy  enough,  and  is  a  good 
investment ;  but  with  the  bills  unpaid  and  borrow- 
ing possibilities  exhausted,  it  is  simply  impossible. 
The  trustees  know  this,  and  take  advantage  of  it. 
The  teacher  knows  it,  and  dares  not  insist  upon 
what  he  might  otherwise  safely  demand. 

"  Put  money  in  thy  purse,"  teacher,  and  keep  it 


THK  TEACHER'S  COMMERCIAL  VALU&          73 

there,  some  of  it.  You  will  never  know  what  it  is 
to  be  "integer  vitae"  till  you  are  a  quarter's  salary 
ahead  of  all  money  obligations. 

Emerson  somewhere  remarks  with  that  practical 
common-sense  so  curiously  allied  in  him  with 
glimpses  of  the  unfathomable,  that  if  you  want  an 
over-due  bill  paid,  you  should  not  inform  your 
debtor  that  you  are  in  need  of  money  :  for  when 
you  do  that  you  acknowledge  yourself  in  his  power, 
and  that  it  is  a  favor  you  are  begging  instead  of  a 
right  you  are  demanding.  Years  ago  I  taught  the 
high-school  in  Meriden,  Ct.,  rattling  around  in  the 
shoes  of  Col.  Homer  B.  Sprague,  who  had  been 
elected  to  the  Legislature  to  secure  the  re-establish- 
ment of  the  State  Normal  school.  He  drew  his 
salary  and  paid  half  of  it  to  me,  and  I  shall  never 
forget  the  impression  that  first  payment  made  upon 
me.  The  treasurer  of  the  board  was,  I  think,  a 
shoemaker,  a  small  tradesman  making  perhaps  a 
thousand  dollars  a  year ;  and  yet  because  it  was 
through  his  hands  the  public  money  was  paid  he 
fairly  patronized  Col.  Sprague,  and  someway  the 
Colonel's  manly  form  seemed  to  weazen  under  it. 
He  had  to  have  the  money,  and  the  shoemaker 
knew  he  had  to  have  it,  and  gloated  in  that  for  the 


74  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

moment  he  was  put  in  the  position  of  master  of  a 
man  whose  shoes  he  was  unworthy  to  cobble.  It  is 
a  position  of  dependence  in  which  the  teacher  need 
not  and  should  not  stand.  His  salary  should  be 
brought  to  him,  and  he  should  accept  it  as  the 
savings-bank  accepts  the  interest  on  a  mortgage. 
This  he  may  insist  upon,  if  he  will  put  himself  in 
position  not  to  be  dependent  upon  getting  his  salary 
on  a  specific  day.  The  world  respects  a  man  with 
capital,  and  the  teacher  with  his  debts  paid  and 
money  in  his  pocket  is  a  man  of  capital. 

Character  involves  Professional  as  well  as  Com- 
mercial Honor.  A.  R.  Hope  says  sadly  : 

"  We  dominies  so  seldom  have  a  good  word  to  say 
of  each  other.  This  is  a  sad  fact,  but  a  fact,  never- 
theless, and  the  reason  is  clear  enough.  We  are  so 
accustomed  to  have  our  own  way  and  hear  our 
own  tongues  going,  that  we  do  not  make  good 
society  for  each  other.  I  believe  the  same  rule  holds 
good  with  crowned  heads  and  country  parsons.  If 
there  were  a  dozen  emperors  of  Abyssinia  living  and 
ruling  within  a  convenient  distance  of  one  another, 
we  should  find  them  by  no  means  peaceable  neigh- 
bors ;  and  in  the  same  way,  we  dominies,  so  far  as 
not  bound  over  by  Mrs.  Grundy  to  keep  the  peace, 


THE  TEACHER'S  COMMERCIAL  VALUE          75 

are  given  to  sneer  at  the  attainments  and  exertions 
of  our  brethren*." 

When  we  not  only  sneer  at  our  brethren  but  try  to 
supplant  them ;  when  we  decry  and  slander  and 
underbid  them  in  our  attempt  to  secure  their  places 
for  ourselves,  we  deserve  to  be  pilloried  for  the  con- 
tempt of  mankind. 

Character  further  involves  scrupulous  honor  in 
the  teacher's  relations  to  his  pupils.  The  best 
teachers  are  often  tempted  to  unwise  familiarity 
with  their  larger  girls.  We  do  not  count  as  a 
teacher  the  man  who  could  stain  such  a  relation  by 
an  impure  thought ;  but  we  have  known  serious 
difficulty  to  arise  when  the  delight  one  feels  in  a 
bright,  lovable  pupil  is  allowed  to  drift  into  senti- 
mental fondness.  As  Longfellow  puts  it : 

Came  the  preceptor,  gazing  idly  round 
Now  at  the  clouds,  and  now  at  the  green  grass, 

And  -all  absorbed  in  reveries  profound 
Of  fair  Almira  in  the  upper  class. 

Children  are  quick  to  see  and  to  report,  even  to 
misreport  such  weakness  as  this,  and  of  a  sudden 
the  teacher's  influence  is  sapped.  "  If  a  student 
convince  you  that  you  are  wrong  and  he  is  right/' 

*  Book  about  Dominies. 


76  TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS 

says  Emerson,  "  acknowledge  it  cheerfully,  and  hug 
him." 

That  "  him  "  should  strictly  preserve  its  gender. 

Jean  Paul  well  advises  : 

"Holily  preserve  childlike  trust,  without  which 
there  can  be  no  education.  Never  forget  that  the 
little  child  looks  up  to  you  as  to  a  lofty  genius,  an 
apostle  full  of  revelations  whom  he  trusts  altogether 
more  absolutely  than  his  equals  ;  and  that  the  lie  of 
an  apostle  destroys  the  whole  moral  world." 

Prof.  Andrews  declares  that  high  character  is  the 
source  of  all  true  authority  in  the  teacher.  "  One  of 
the  Greek  writers  truly  said  :  There  is  no  culture 
from  him  who  does  not  please.  Popularity,  indeed, 
often  attends  what  is  superficial  and  spurious.  Cater- 
ing to  the  lower  impulses  of  the  student  may  for  a 
time  secure  favor ;  but  sooner  or  later  all  worthy 
popularity  comes  to  him  who  deserves  it.  It  is  but 
another  name  for  authority.  Without  this  the  effort 
to  impart  knowledge  will  meet  but  a  listless  recep- 
tion, and  any  attempt  to  influence  character  will  be 
repelled.  .  .  It  is  this  personal  authority  which 
identifies  the  school  and  the  teacher.  Rugby  was 
Arnold  and  Arnold  was  Rugby ;  while  Union  Col- 
lege, for  half  a  century,  was  almost  synonymous 


THE  TEACHER'S  COMMERCIAL  VALUE          77 

with  the  name  of  Eliphalet  Nott.  The  success  of 
such  a  teacher  rests  not  on  a  mere  ipse  dixit.  It  is 
not  a  moral  compulsion  that  aims  to  break  down 
the  student's  convictions.  It  creates,  however,  a  pre- 
sumption in  a  teacher's  favor  ;  it  engenders  a  proper 
and  healthful  deference,  without  which  there  is  no 
true  culture*." 

I  got  off  the  train  once  at  a  village  where  there 
were  two  schools,  under  two  principals.  Of  two  or 
three  boys  loafing  near  the  station  I  asked  after  the 
first.  As  soon  as  they  found  out  whom  I  meant, — 
"Old  Tommy?"  one  of  them  said,  "why  he's  out 
of  town.  Vacation." — "And  is  the  other  school 
closed?"  "O  no,  you  will  find  Mr.  Brown  there." 
It  was  not  the  "Old  Tommy"  and  the  "Mr. 
Brown"  alone  that  showed  me  how  different  was 
the  influence  of  the  two  men,  but  the  very  tone  of 
the  boy's  voice  changed.  He  referred  to  the  first 
with  a  sneer,  and  drew  down  his  face  in  speaking 
of  the  second  as  he  would  if  he  had  been  walking 
up  to  his  desk  on  an  errand.  Character  that  mani- 
fests itself  like  that  pays  :  it  has  commercial  value. 

Health  has  commercial  value.  "  A  nice  person," 
says  Sydney  Smith,  "looks  clean  and  cheerful." 

*  University  Convocation,  1878, 


78  TEACHING   AS   A    BUSINESS 

What  a  happy  light  a  clean  and  cheerful  teacher 
throws  over  the  school-room. 

Health  involves  earnestness  and  enthusiasm. 

"  Dr.  Arnold's  great  power  resided  in  this,"  says 
Dean  Stanley,  "that  he  gave  such  an  intense  earn- 
estness to  life.  Every  pupil  was  made  to  feel  that 
there  was  a  work  for  him  to  do — that  his  happiness 
as  well  as  his  duty  lay  in  doing  that  work  well. 
Hence  an  indescribable  zest  was  communicated  to 
the  young  man's  feelings  about  life.  .  .  Pupils 
of  the  most  different  natures  wrere  keenly  stimulated. 
None  felt  that  he  was  left  out,  or  that  because  he  was 
not  endowed  with  large  powers  of  mind  there  was 
no  sphere  open  to  him  in  the  honorable  pursuit  of 
usefulness*." 

"  Enthusiasm  !  "  cries  Dr.  Mears.  "  Not  in  thirty 
years'  hearing  has  that  world  lost  its  charm  to  my 
ears.  It  speaks  of  youthful  energy  and  glow  and 
ideality  ;  of  the  halo  of  fresh  imagination  cast  about 
the  common-places  of  life  and  work  ;  of  ardor  and 
momentum  sweeping  down  obstacles,  and  commu- 
nicating itself  as  a  rare  magnetism  in  a  wide  circle 
of  influence  f." 

*  Life  of  Thomas  Arnold. 
t-ZV,  T.  State  Association,  1876, 


THE  TEACHER'S  COMMERCIAL  VALUE          79 

"  Enthusiasm/'  says  Inspector  Hughes  of  Toronto, 
"  is  well  directed  energy ;  not  mere  excitement,  or 
assumed  animation.  Enthusiasm  must  spring  from 
a  genuine  fervent  desire  for  the  accomplishment  of 
an  understood  purpose.  Enthusiasm  in  teaching 
must  grow  from  a  love  for  the  work  through  ac- 
quaintance with  the  subjects  to  be  taught,  and  a 
deep  conviction  of  the  great  value  of  education  in 
forming  the  characters  and  securing  the  success  of 
his  pupils.  Some  one  says,  '  Enthusiastic  men  are 
narrow.'  Perhaps  they  are  to  a  certain  extent,  but 
narrowing  a  man's  energies  to  his  legitimate  work 
is  the  most  essential  foundation  for  his  success. 

"  The  teacher  should  widen  his  mental  range,  and 
concentrate  his  energies  and  his  emotional  nature. 
'  Enthusiasm  is  not  a  reckless  zeal  without  knowl- 
edge ;  neither  is  it  that  overplus  of  feeling  or  action 
that  overdoes  the  work  but  undoes  the  worker.  But 
it  does  consist  in  the  combination  of  a  high  appre- 
ciation of  the  importance  of  your  work,  and  a  hearty 
zeal  in  the  accomplishment  of  that  work.  Fanati- 
cism is  zeal  without  knowledge ;  indifference  is  no 
zeal  whatever  ;  enthusiasm  is  zeal  tempered  by  pru- 
dence, modified  by  knowledge.  Indifference  chills  ; 
enthusiasm  warms  and  quickens.  A  teacher  with- 


80  TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS 

out  enthusiasm  has  no  right  to  be  a  teacher.  He 
cannot  be  one,  in  the  truest  and  broadest  sense, 
without  it.'  " 

But  how  can  there  be  enthusiasm  without  health  ? 
W.  H.  Lambert  declares : 

"  Both  experience  and  observation  have  taught 
me  that  teachers  as  a  class  are  not  careful  of  their 
health,  and  do  not  sufficiently  value  a  good  sound 
body  as  an  element  contributing  to  the  largest  pro- 
fessional success ;  that  they  too  often  forget  that 
cheerfulness,  courage,  patience,  temper,  self-control, 
enthusiasm,  and  all  the  virtues  which  are  constitu- 
ents of  the  atmosphere  of  the  child-garden,  in  which 
are  to  grow  and  be  developed  the  human  plants 
committed  to  their  care,  are  the  products,  very 
largely,  of  their  bodily  health.  .  .  Although 
teachers  have  more  holidays,  more  and  longer  vaca- 
tions, yet  statistics  show  that  no  class  of  people  so 
early  break  down  under  their  work  *." 

He  specifies,  (1)  they  are  too  anxious,  (2)  take  too 
little  exercise,  (3)  work  too  many  hours,  (4)  multi- 
ply details  of  school  management,  (5)  are  too  con- 
stantly the  pedagogue  ;  and  he  adds  : 

"  The  greatest  power  the  teacher  can  carry  into 

*  N.  E.  Journal  of  Education,  xiii,  267. 


81 

the  school-room  is  a  joyous,  courageous,  and  enthus- 
iastic disposition,  the  offspring  of  health.  Bilious- 
ness is  as  catching  as  enthusiasm,  and  the  teacher 
always  becomes  the  pupil's  barometer,  by  which  the 
latter  may  foretell  the  condition  of  his  own  mental 
atmosphere.  .  .  A  cheerful  school  is  always  a 
successful  one,  and  I  hold  that  the  success  of  a 
school  is  proportioned  to  the  happiness  of  its  pupils. 
Indeed,  he  who  cannot  teach  a  happy  school  has  no 
right  to  teach,  at  all.  But  how  can  a  teacher  be 
happy  when  a  dyspeptic  stomach  is  torturing  him 
with  its  never-ceasing  pangs  ;  when  a  sluggish  liver 
-is  throwing  its  saffron  hues  into  his  face  ;  when  the 
body  is  trembling  under  the  thumpings  of  a  flabby 
heart ;  and  when  the  entire  system  is  reduced  under 
a  nervous  prostration?  " 

FewT  teachers  appreciate  the  commercial  value  of 
Neatness.  How  often  a  man  wonders  why  he  ap- 
plied in  vain  for  a  position,  when  he  wore  a  frayed 
frock  coat  with  greasy  lappels,  his  hair  frowsy,  his 
boots  unpolished,  his  visible  linen  made  up  of  paper 
collars  and  cuffs  soiled  by  a  week's  travelling. 
With  all  the  testimonials  in  the  world,  such  a  man 
could  not  expect  to  be  engaged  by  an  intelligent 
board  of  education.  The  teacher  is  an  example  for 


82  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

his  pupils,  and  no  precepts  about  tidiness  could 
undo  the  effect  of  such  a  daily  exhibition. 

"It  makes  a  difference  in  a  man's  prospects, 
whether  he  keeps  his  finger-nails  clean,"  I  said  to  a 
normal  principal,  the  other  day.  "  Yes,"  he  replied 
emphatically,  "  and  whether  he  keeps  his  toe-nails 
clean."  He  was  right.  A  man  applying  for  a 
position  does  not  uncover  his  feet  to  prove  that  he 
is  fond  of  water,  but  unconsciously  he  exhibits  the 
general  character  of  his  personal  habits  by  a  hun- 
dred tokens  that  he  can  neither  assume  nor  conceal. 

Courtesy  has  a  commercial  value  of  which  many 
teachers  seem  ignorant.  "  Politeness,"  says  Sydney 
Smith,  "is  like  an  air-cushion ;  there  may  be  noth- 
ing in  it,  but  it  eases  the  jolts  of  life  wonderfully." 
Gideon  F.  Thayer  tells  us  : 

"  Governor  Everett,  of  Massachusetts,  widely 
known  as  an  accomplished  gentleman,  frequently 
visited  a  primary  school  in  the  city  of  Boston,  when 
every  pupil  evinced  by  his  deportment  that  he  felt 
the  influence  of  the  governor's  courteous  manners, 
even  before  he  spoke ;  and  on  one  occasion  a  little 
pupil  said  to  the  teacher,  after  he  had  withdrawn, 
'  Miss  Brown,  I  always  feel  just  as  if  I  must  keep 
bowing,  when  that  gentleman  comes  into  school*/ ' 

*  Barnard'1  s  American  Journal  of  Education,  ii.107, 


THE  TEACHER'S  COMMERCIAL  VALUE          83 

There  is  but  one  safe  basis  of  courtesy  in  the 
school-room,  and  that  consists  in  a  genuine  Love  for 
children.  To  quote  again  from  W.  H.  Lambert : 

"  The  man  who  never  unbends,  who  never  throws 
off  his  load  of  dignity,  and  who  does  not  instinct- 
ively seek  to  indulge  in  playfulness  and  the  unre- 
strained freedom  of  childhood,  cannot  be  a  healthy 
man.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  comes  to  us  in  this 
world  only  when  we  are  little  children.  Dr.  John- 
son on  a  frolic,  Lord  Chatham  playing  at  marbles, 
and  Walter  Scott  romping  with  his  dogs,  show  us 
how  such  colossal  minds  unbend  from  their  great 
tasks.  .  .  Whoever  has  read  Stanley's  biography 
of  that  wonderful  man,  Dr.  Arnold,  has  discovered 
that  the  secret  of  this  great  teacher's  success  con- 
sisted in  his  marvellous  sympathy  with  boy-nature, 
arising  from  his  abounding  animal  spirits.  When, 
said  he  once  to  a  friend,  I  cannot  run  up  the  library 
stairs  three  steps  at  once,  I  shall  think  it  time  to 
leave  teaching*." 

"  What  an  amiable  litter  we  have  here  in  this 
kennel  of  mannerism  !  "  says  another  writer  ;  "  black, 
snarling  Asperity,  red,  yelping  Dictatorialness,  and 
yellow,  open-jawed  Monopoly.  The  vital  question 

*  Mew  England  Journal  of  Education,  xii,385, 


84  TEACHING    AS    A    BUSINESS 

for  the  teacher  is,  how  he  may  protect  himself  against 
their  too  great  annoyance,  how  get  the  mastery  over 
them,  how  chain  to  the  school-room  floor  this  Cer- 
berean  brood.  .  . 

"  We  doubtless  have  all  smiled  at  the  credulity 
of  that  old  Spanish  cavalier  who  explored  trackless 
waters  and  ransacked  pathless  wildernesses  to  find  a 
fount  of  water  that  would  wash  out  the  unsightli- 
nesses  of  age,  and  in  their  places  evoke  the  graces 
of  eternal  youth.  .  .  The  teacher  stands  con- 
stantly in  the  very  midst  of  such  a  fountain,  with 
innumerable  jets  disporting  their  aromatic,  pellucid, 
effervescent  waters  on  every  hand  ;  and  most  stupid 
indeed,  aye,  culpable  is  he,  if  he  shall  not  extract 
from  their  sweet  environment  the  elixir  of  peren- 
nial youth*." 

In  answer  to  a  letter  asking  how  his  poetry  was 
still  as  fresh  as  forty  years  ago,  Longfellow  answered 
that  he  knew  a  pear-tree  two  hundred  years  old  that 
bore  as  sweet  fruit  as  when  it  was  young,  and 
added,  "  I  presume  it  is  because  the  tree  grows  a 
little  every  year." 

And  this  suggests  whose  fault  it  is  that  Youth  has 
commercial  value.  As  a  rule  the  man  commands  a 

*  Qhw  Educational  Monthly,  xxvi.424, 


THE  TEACHER'S  COMMERCIAL  VALUE          85 

new  position  most  readily  at  thirty,  the  woman  at 
twenty-five — ages  at  which  in  other  professions  their 
success  would  hardly  have  begun.  It  is  because 
teachers  so  often  lack  sympathy  with  childhood,  so 
often  lose  the  progressiveness  of  growth  in  them- 
selves, that  this  impression  so  generally  exists  as  to 
the  teacher's  most  valuable  period  of  work.  Rous- 
seau says : 

"  The  teacher  of  a  child  should  be  young,  even 
as  young  as  possible,  consistent  with  his  having 
attained  necessary  discretion  and  sagacity.  I  would 
have  him  be  himself  a  child,  that  he  might  become 
the  companion  of  his  pupil,  and  gain  his  confi- 
dence by  partaking  of  his  amusements.  There  are 
not  things  in  common  enough  between  infancy  and 
manhood  to  form  a  solid  attachment  at  so  great  a 
distance.  Children  sometimes  caress  old  men,  but 
they  never  love  them." 

It  depends  on  the  life  one  leads  whether  there  are 
things  enough  in  common  between  himself  and 
childhood  to  permit  of  companionship.  Unhappy 
man,  unworthy  teacher,  who  at  any  age  while  his 
faculties  remain  has  lost  his  power  of  loving  and 
being  loved  by  children. 

Scholarship  has  commercial  value. 


86  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

In  this  State  the  present  scale  of  salaries  for  men 
is  dependent  upon  their  education  somewhat  in  the 
following  degree. 

The  man  just  graduated  at  college  with  fair 
scholarship  and  unblemished  character  is  tolerably 
sure  of  a  $500  position,  whatever  his  other  character- 
istics. The  demand  for  teachers  at  this  price,  where 
scholarship  is  the  main  consideration,  is  quite  equal 
to  the  supply. 

Beyond  this,  all  depends  on  the  man  himself.  If 
he  is  without  experience,  he  will  be  ranked  mainly 
by  his  personal  appearance.  If  he  is  prompt,  posi- 
tive, persuasive,  he  can  get  a  small  village  school  at 
$800,  and  he  may  get  $1,000  or  more.  If  he  has 
marked  specialties  he  may  get  a  department  in 
some  academy  or  small  college,  but  usually  at  a 
salary  $200  less  than  he  would  receive  as  principal. 

If  he  has  had  successful  experience,  even  in  a  dis- 
trict school,  his  lowest  limit  should  be  $800,  and  from 
that  upward  according  to  the  character  of  his  ex- 
perience. Sometimes  he  does  not  get  it,  but  that  is 
only  on  account  of  undeveloped  means  of  commu- 
nication between  schools  and  teachers.  The  de- 
mand, is  equal  to  the  supply  at  these  figures. 

The  fresh  normal  graduate  of  the  classical  course 


THE  TEACHER'S  COMMERCIAL  VALUE          87 

stands  quite  "on  a  level  with  the  inexperienced  col- 
lege-graduate. I  emphasize  the  classical  depart- 
ment, because  our  village  schools  that  pay  $600  or 
more  to  a  principal  demand  ability  to  teach  Latin 
and  often  Greek.  Most  of  them  care  little  about 
having  these  languages  taught,  but  they  feel  as  if 
they  were  not  getting  their  money's  worth  unless 
the  principal  can  teach  them  if  required.  Hence 
the  folly  of  the  measure  introduced  into  the  legis- 
lature last  winter,  abolishing  the  study  of  Greek  in 
the  normal  schools.  -  It  would  simply  close  to  normal 
graduates  the  doors  of  our  best  union  schools,  where 
at  present  the  normal  schools  are  doing  more  than 
anywhere  else  to  justify  themselves. 

But  though  our  normal  graduates  begin  on  a 
level  with  our  collegians,  they  do  not  rise  so  fast 
with  experience.  Their  practical  limit,  so  far  as 
their  education  helps  them,  apart  from  exceptional 
natural  ability,  is  $1,000  a  year.  Schools  that  pay 
more  than  that  want  a  college  graduate.  This  fact 
a  great  many  normal  graduates  after  a  little  teach- 
ing recognize,  and  accordingly  make  the  necessary 
sacrifices  to  secure  a  college  course.  This  gives  us, 
so  far  as  training  can  do  it,  the  best  teachers  we 
have,  always  in  demand  for  superior  schools. 


88  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

Ail  exceptional  instance  in  reversed  order 
that  of  Prof.  Burchard,  editor  of  the  State  Educa- 
tional Journal  founded  at  Saratoga  fourteen  years  ago. 
He  was  graduated  from  Yale  College  first,  and  then 
took  a  course  in  the  Oswego  Normal.  But  that  was 
pedagogical  enterprise  too  exceptional  to  last.  Like 
the  good  little  boys  who  die  young,  he  soon  gave 
up  teaching  and  went  into  Colorado  banking. 

For  experienced  teachers  capable  of  carrying 
through  the  entire  course  of  Regents'  advanced 
examinations,  of  managing  a  school  without  fric- 
tion, and  of  manipulating  a  board  of  education 
without  the  board's  finding  it  out,  $1,000  is  at 
present  a  low  salary.  Villages  of  more  than  a 
thousand  inhabitants  with  a  school  under  the  Re- 
gents and  doing  well  do  not  grumble  at  $1,200,  and 
pay  from  that  up  to  $1,700  or  $1,800,  as  at  Ilion 
and  Waterville.  City  ward  schools,  outside  New 
York  and  Brooklyn,  pay  usually  $1,500,  high 
schools  $1,500  to  $3,000,  superintendences  $1,200 
to  $4,000.  The  limit  of  salary  a  teacher  may  ex- 
pect to  reach  in  New  York  is  $2,000.  He  may 
happen  upon  one  of  the  bigger  places  ; — and  he 
may  pick  up  a  diamond  in  Broadway  :  people  some- 
times drop  them. 


THE  TEACHER'S  COMMERCIAL  VALUE          89 

Of  course  many  of  these  places,  some  of  the  best  of 
them,  are  filled  by  men  with  neither  normal  nor  col- 
lege training,  who  were  never  graduated  anywhere, 
but  whose  natural  fitness  and  professional  progres- 
siveness  have  enabled  them  to  keep  abreast  of  those 
with  greater  educational  advantages.  But  there  is 
no  such  man  who  does  not  regret  that  he  is  not  a 
graduate.  He  knows  that  his  home-made  armour 
has  cost  him  dear,  and  that  with  all  his  labor  it 
has  fissures  here  and  there  that  gape  open  at  un- 
happy crises.  If  he  had  not  the  discrimination  to 
recognize  this,  he  would  not  have  the  discrimina- 
tion to  hold  his  place ;  and  he  is  always  the  first  to 
urge  upon  young  men  the  commercial  value  of  a 
broad  and  thorough  education. 

These  general  principles  apply  also  to  young 
women,  so  far  as  they  mean  to  make  teaching  a  life- 
work.  Indeed,  there  is  more  definiteness  of  demand 
for  certain  training  in  wo'men  than  in  men  teachers. 
There  are  many  schools  that  make  the  rule  abso- 
lute to  employ  as  assistants  in  lower  grades  only 
normal  graduates  ;  and  while  a  few  boards  of  edu- 
cation have  a  prejudice  against  them,  born  of  un- 
happy experience,  in  general  it  may  be  said  that  a 
normal  diploma  is  recognized  as  the  surest  single 
proof  of  fitness. 


90  TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS 

But  it  is  gradually  becoming  recognized  that  it 
makes  quite  a  difference  whether  this  diploma  be 
from  the  English  or  from  the  classical  department, 
not  so  much  from  the  greater  range  of  studies,  as 
from  the  discipline  gained  by  the  extra  year  of  train- 
ing. It  is  an  unhappy  fact  that  many  teachers  hold 
a  normal  diploma  who  cannot  spell  correctly,  who 
do  not  know  the  courtesies  of  correspondence,  who 
have  not  yet  obtained  that  most  essential  element 
of  control  of  others — the  mastery  of  themselves. 
My  experience  leads  me  to  think  there  should  be  a 
distinction  in  nomenclature,  so  that  the  terms  "  nor- 
mal graduate "  and  " normal  diploma"  shall  not 
apply  indiscriminately  to  a  two-,  a  three-,  or  a  four- 
years'  course. 

Within  a  few  years  the  college-graduate  has  be- 
come an  important  factor  in  the  selection  of  women 
teachers.  Not  only  Vassar  and  Smith  and  Well- 
esley,  but  Cornell  and  Syracuse  and  Michigan  Uni- 
versity are  sending  out  women-graduates  to  teach. 
These  command  a  higher  salary  than  normal  grad- 
uates from  the  start,  and  seem  likely  to  assume 
virtual  control  of  the  best  positions.  The  demon- 
stration is  even  more  positive  than  in  the  case  of 
men,  that  mental  discipline  is  worth  paying  for ; 


THE  TEACHER'S  COMMERCIAL  VALUE          91 

and  if  it  is  obtained  without  sacrifice  of  health  it 
affords  a  capital  likely  to  pay  a  liberal  dividend. 

It  is  only  within  a  few  years  that  Pedagogical 
Training  has  begun  to  have  a  recognized  commer- 
cial value.  The  fact  that  the  normal  graduate  con- 
tends on  terms  so  nearly  equal  with  the  college 
graduate  of  much  broader  scholarship  shows  that 
the  normal  schools  are  accomplishing  what  is  much 
their  most  important  work — the  awakening  of  the 
public  mind  to  the  fact  that  teaching  is  an  art  the 
principles  of  which  may  be  learned  as  the  princi- 
ples of  other  arts  are  learned. 

The  difficulty  just  now,  as  in  all  crude  begin- 
nings, is  the  conceit  that  comes  from  partial  train- 
ing. Grace  C.  Bibb  says  : 

"It  is  charged  that  some  of  these  representatives 
of  normal  schools  carry  into  their  work  a  certain 
dogmatic  self  assertion,  sufficiently  unpleasant  when 
dignified  by  sound  scholarship  and  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  pedagogics,  but  offensive  to  the  last  degree 
when  sustained  only  by  very  moderate  scientific  or 
literary  attainments  and  by  no  particular  pedagogic 
skill.  Perhaps  no  one  agency  has  done  so  much  to 
produce  a  feeling  of  antagonism  towards  our  schools 
in  the  minds  of  people  who  have  no  other  reason 


92  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

for  hostility  than  the  assumption  of  this  class  of 
young  persons,  who  are  especially  obnoxious  to  the 
veteran  teacher  and  more  mildly  noxious  to  other 
sensible  people  everywhere*.'' 

But  so  long  as  gold  is  valued  for  ornaments,  it 
will  be  imitated  by  pinchbeck,  and  the  pinchbeck 
will  be  the  heavier  and  the  showier.  The  worst 
effect  of  this  conceit  is  that  it  shuts  out  further  pro- 
gress. 

Take  "  Methods  ",  for  instance  ;  teachers  now-a- 
days  speak  of  their  Methods  as  a  sort  of  stock  in 
trade,  that  may  be  purchased  by  the  dozen  and  laid 
away  in  packages.  A  few  years  ago  it  was  the 
Oswego  Methods.  They  were  bound  up  in  brown 
cloth  and  sold  for  fourteen  shillings  a  set.  Just 
now  it  is  the  Quincy  Methods.  They  are  done  up 
in  blue  cloth,  at  a  dollar  and  a  half. 

Well,  methods  are  all  right  if  they  are  under- 
stood to  be  simply  a  bridge  from  the  mind  of  the 
teacher  to  the  mind  of  the  pupil,  and  if  it  is  remem- 
bered that  as  the  distances  and  the  embankments 
vary,  so  must  the  bridges  vary  both  in  size  and  in 
pattern.  The  methods  given  in  a  book  are  simply 
suggestions  of  a  few  of  the  infinitely  varying  appli- 

*  Education^  i.581. 


THE  TEACHER'S  COMMERCIAL  VALUE          93 

cations  of  principles.  Yet  there  are  teachers  who 
have  purchased  and  memorized  a  few  of  these 
methods,  and  who  think  pedagogical  wisdom  will 
die  with  them.  Nay,  the  most  conceited  are  not  the 
normal  graduates  or  the  teachers  of  a  single  book, 
but  the  "self-made"  teachers  who  have  such 
confidence  in  their  creator  that  they  have  never 
needed  either  training  or  books.  They  have  methods 
of  their  own  as  rigid  as  a  soldier's  leather  stock,  and 
so  satisfactory  to  them  that  they  have  no  desire  to 
investigate  others. 

You  have  heard  of  the  newly  elected  Congress- 
man from  a  back  district  who  was  invited  to  his 
first  fashionable  dinner.  He  was  unaccustomed  to 
having  his  dinner  at  night,  but  he  did  not  want  to 
spoil  his  appetite  and  so  went  without  his  usual 
noon  meal.  The  hour  was  eight  o'clock.,  but  it  was 
nearly  nine  before  they  sat  down,  and  he  was  fam- 
ished. 

What  was  his  disgust  to  find  the  table  practically 
empty.  There  were  silver  and  flowers  and  elegant 
programmes  with  outlandish  names,  but  not  a  scrap 
of  anything  to  eat.  He  had  heard  of  pinching 
your  stomach  to  array  your  back,  but  this  was  car- 
rying it  a  little  too  far. 


94  TEACHING   AS   A    BUSINESS 

At  last,  however,  the  waiter  did  bring  him  a  plate 
of  soup.  Now  he  hated  soup — wish-washy  stuff: 
give  him  a  good  side  of  roast-beef  for  such  an  appe- 
tite as  he  had.  But  soup  was  all  there  was,  and  he 
had  to  make  the  best  of  it.  So  he  swallowed  it 
down,  and  as  it  didn't  fill  up  much  he  called  for 
another  plate,  and  another,  and  another,  wondering 
whether  the  rest  of  the  guests  lived  on  air. 

At  last,  however,  he  had  enough,  and  he  folded 
up  his  napkin  and  began  to  push  back  his  chair. 

"And  what  do  you  think?"  he  afterwards  told 
the  story.  "Darn  me  if  they  didn't  fetch  on  fish, 
and  game,  and  roast,  and  boiled,  and  all  the  gim- 
cracks  you  could  think  on  for  more'n  two  hours : 
and  there  I  sot  chock  full  o'  soup." 

Go  to  a  teachers'  institute,  and  you  may  give 
these  teachers  the  choicest  results  of  modern  educa- 
tional science,  and  after  the  hour  feel  that  your 
time  has  been  thrown  away ;  for  there  they've  sot, 
chock  full  o'  Methods. 


I  have  named  a  few  of  the  elements  of  a  teacher's 
commercial  value,  and  I  fancy  you  are  already 
asking  whether  if  all  these  elements  be  united 
they  will  command  the  price. 


THE  TEACHER'S  COMMERCIAL  VALUE          95 

Ah  !  my  friends,  it  is  with  teachers  as  it  is  with 
diamonds.  The  rule  is  simple  enough.  A  flawless 
diamond  of  a  single  carat  is  worth  say  $100  ;  of 
two  carats,  $250  ;  of  three  carats,  $500,  and  so  on — 
the  value  growing  rapidly  as  the  size  increases. 
And  those  are  not  only  values  but  prices.  You 
may  sell  them  in  the  hotel-corridor,  at  the  jeweller's, 
at  auction,  and  they  will  bring  substantially  these 
sums.  But  how  about  the  Kohinoor,  the  Regent, 
the  Princess  ?  Intrinsically  the  same  rule  of  increase 
more  than  holds  good,  but  practically  the  commer- 
cial value  cannot  be  named  because  the  possible 
purchasers  are  so  few.  There  are  thousands  ready 
to  buy  your  one-,  two-,  three-carat  diamonds,  but 
only  a  queen  or  a  nation  has  money  to  invest  in  a 
Kohinoor ;  so  it  must  await  a  purchaser,  and  be 
rated  at  an  approximation  to  its  value.  All  that  a 
man  hath  will  he  give  for  a  stone  like  that,  but  all 
that  most  men  have  is  not  to  be  mentioned  in  con- 
nection with  it. 

So  with  teachers.  Your  eight-hundred  dollar 
man  may  depend  with  considerable  certainty  upon 
an  eight-hundred  dollar  place,  the  thousand-dollar 
places  are  frequent,  and  there  are  many  schools 
that  pay  twelve,  fifteen,  eighteen  hundred.  At  two 


96  TEACHING   AS    A   BUSINESS 

thousand,  schools  become  scarce,  at  twenty-five 
hundred  and  three  thousand  one  may  wait  for  years 
before  he  finds  his  niche. 

But  who  shall  put  a  price  on  the  work  of  William 
Hutchison,  who  died  at  Norwich,  Conn.,  a  few 
months  since  ?  Just  twenty  years  ago  he  was  prin- 
cipal of  the  academy  at  Groton,  Mass.,  at  a  salary 
of  $1,200.  He  had  much  sickness  in  his  family, 
he  could  not  live  on  that  amount,  and  he  asked  the 
trustees  to  increase  it.  While  they  were  assuring 
him,  and  believing  it,  that  the  funds  of  the  institu- 
tion would  not  permit  an  increase,  a  committee 
came  up  from  the  Norwich  Free  Academy,  and 
offered  him  $4,000.  Then  the  Groton  trustees  hast- 
ened to  meet,  and  offered  him  $2,000  to  stay.  But 
their  judgment  of  the  value  of  his  services  was  cor- 
rected too  late.  He  had  already  made  his  engage- 
ment, and  Lawrence  Academy  lost  a  chance  it  will 
never  recover  to  rank  among  the  first-class  fitting- 
schools  of  New  England. 

William  Hutchison  was  a  Kohinoor ;  and  Nor- 
wich got  him,  not  because  $4,000  measured  his  ser- 
vices, but  because  no  other  school  was  then  ready 
to  offer  so  large  a  salary  to  anybody.  But  mark 
hpw  the  Groton  trustees  changed  their  opinion  of 


THE  TEACHER'S  COMMERCIAL  VALUE          97 

what  they  could  afford  to  pay  him.  The  visit  of 
the  Norwich  committee  did  not  increase  the  value 
of  his  work,  but  it  gave  a  new  notion  of  its  expres- 
sion in  decimal  currency.  He  was  the  best  princi- 
pal the  Groton  school  had  ever  known,  far  the  best 
it  was  likely  to  find  ;  but  its  ideas  of  salary  were 
founded  on  a  $1,200  basis.  The  unprecedented 
competition  of  a  $4,000  school  was  an  earthquake 
that  by  a  single  convulsion  lifted  the  financial  level 
of  these  trustees'  estimates  66f  per  cent. 

Let  us  hope  the  level  was  maintained,  and  that 
such  convulsions  will  be  frequent. 

There  are  signs  of  progress. 

A  month  ago,  a  Long  Island  trustee  wrote  to  me 
for  a  principal,  and  after  he  had  finished  the  letter, 
added,  as  a  sort  of  superfluous  caution, — as  who 
should  say,  "  If  it  rains  you  had  better  bring  an 
umbrella" — this  postscript:  "  Of  course  he  must 
hold  either  a  Normal  Diploma  or  a  State  Certificate." 

Do  you  mind  that?  "  Of  course"  he  must  hold 
either  a  Diploma  or  a  State  Certificate — in  other 
words  of  course  he  must  be  a  professional  teacher  : 
no  amateurs  or  stepping-stoners  need  apply. 

Now  ten  years  ago  who  would  have  believed  that 
le?  Thirteen  years  ago,  Dr.  Hoose  stood 


98  TEACHING' AS  A  BUSINESS 

before  this  very  Association,  in  this  very  place,  and 
shook  his  mane,  and  roared  that  there  were  to  the 
profession  of  teaching  no  science,  no  maxims,  no 
code,  no  status,  no  prospects. 

And  in  these  years  there  has  been  such  an  ad- 
vance in  public  sentiment  that  a  little  thousand- 
dollar  school  on  Long  Island  calls  for  a  professional 
teacher  as  confidently  as  a  man  at  the  restaurant 
calls  for  chops  and  tomato  sauce. 

I  want  to  say  a  word  for  these  State  Certificates. 
However  some  of  us  may  differ  as  to  the  wisdom 
and  the  justice  of  some  acts  of  the  late  State  super- 
intendent, I  think  we  shall  all  agree  that  he  took 
an  important  step  forward  when  he  established  this 
system  of  State  examinations.  I  like  to  see  a  col- 
lege-bred union  school  principal  refer  with  pride  to 
his  certificate  by  examination.  He  has  a  right  to 
be  proud  of  it ;  and  I  tell  you,  my  friends,  the  day 
is  coming  when  he  can't  be  principal  of  a  union 
school  without  it.  The  influence  of  these  examin- 
ations reaches  every  teacher  in  the  State.  I  know 
personally,  and  you  all  know  by  experience  or  ob- 
servation, how  the  ambition  is  spreading  among 
teachers,  old  as  well  as  young,  to  pass  this  examin- 
ation, Why;  I  tried  it  once,  myself.  I  went  into  it 


THE  TEACHER'S  COMMERCIAL  VALUE          99 

rather  patronizingly,  if  I  remember  aright,  but 
before  I  was  half-way  through  I  was  mighty  glad  I 
was  on  good  terms  with  the  examiners. 

We  are  living  in  lively  times,  educationally. 
The  contrast  between  the  spirit  of  a  dozen  years  ago 
and  of  to-day  is  amazing.  The  question  was  then 
asked  with  a  sneer,  "  Who  ever  reads  a  book  on 
education  ?  "  You  may  ask  a  long  time  now  before 
you  find  a  teacher  who  doesn't.  Two  or  three  years 
ago,  to  oblige  Col.  Parker,  who  lent  a  copy  of  the 
book  and  wrote  a  preface  for  it,  a  publisher  I  know 
reprinted  Tate's  "  Philosophy  of  Education".  He 
made  only  a  thousand  copies,  and  had  not  faith 
enough  in  the  demand  for  such  a  book  even  to 
stereotype  it.  But  he  soon  had  to  put  it  into  type 
again,  and  he  sold  more  than  a  thousand  of  them 
this  last  month  of  June  alone,  mostly  in  lots  of  a 
hundred  to  counties  where  it  had  been  adopted  as  a 
"Reading  Circle  "book.  Look  at  the  editions  of 
Payne  and  Fitch  and  Quick  and  Currie,  written  for 
English  schools,  but  reprinted  for  our  own  because 
of  the  appetite  suddenly  developed  for  professional 
reading. 

But  Mr.  President,  I  am  in  the  position  of  the 
Irish  steward  who  apologized  for  so  long  a  letter 
because  he  had  not  time  to  write  a  shorter  one. 


AS    A    BUSINESS 

The  history  of  famous  teachers  illustrates  how 
other  teachers  might  have  become  famous  if  they 
had  been  advertised.  Cyrus  Peirce  was  principal 
of  the  first  normal  school  in  the  country  only  be- 
cause Horace  Mann  happened  to  visit  his  little  Cape 
Cod  village ;  and  Nicholas  Tillinghast  would  never 
have  been  appointed  at  Bridgewater  had  his  private 
school  been  elsewhere  than  in  Boston. 

SOME    METHODS    OF    ADVERTISING 

Teachers  occasionally  advertise  themselves 
through  the  newspapers.  The  Nation  now  and 
then  contains  a  description  of  a  young  man  by 
himself,  with  announcement  that  those  who  are 
eager  for  his  services  may  apply  to  such-and-such 
an  address.  I  doubt  if  anybody  ever  got  a  place 
that  way,  partly  because  schools  are  not  in  the  habit 
of  looking  in  the  advertising  columns  when  they 
want  a  teacher,  and  partly  because  a  teacher  cannot 
in  an  advertisement  of  this  sort  tell  modestly  and 
at  the  same  time  effectively  all  that  might  be  said 
of  his  qualifications.  In  England,  where  the  sys- 
tem of  certification  is  more  complete,  so  that  a 
teacher  may  be  judged  by  the  credentials  he  holds, 
the  journals  contain  a  good  many  such  advertise- 
ments. In  the  London  Journal  of  Education  for 


FITTING  TEACHERS  TO  PLACES  103 

June  there  are  four  pages  of  advertisements  of 
teachers  and  for  teachers  ;  thus  : 

"  AVanted  in  September,  post  as  non-resident  assis- 
tant mistress  in  girls'  school.  Subjects  English  his- 
tory, literature,  geography,  grammar,  arithmetic, 
junior  French,  freehand  drawing.  Good  disciplin- 
arian. Several  years  experience  in  public  school. 
South  coast  preferred." 

"  James  Allen's  girls'  school,  East  Dulwich  Grove, 
S.  E.,  wanted  in  September  second  mistress,  non- 
resident. Subjects  English  history  and  literature, 
good  French,  elementary  mathematics.  Must  have 
degree  of  Tripos  certificate ;  salary  £140.  Also 
junior  form  mistress  :  usual  English  subjects,  ele- 
mentary French  and  German ;  physiology ;  salary 
£100.  Very  good  discipline  and  experience  in 
management  of  large  classes  essential  for  both. 
Apply  witli  full  address  and  copy  of  testimonials  to 
the  head  mistress  not  later  than  June  21." 

But  the  number  of  these  advertisements  is  much 
smaller  t}ian  it  used  to  be  because  the  work  is  done 
so  largely  now  by  the  various  teachers'  agencies, 
such  as  the  Teachers'  Guild  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland,  the  Scholastic  and  Transfer  Agency,  The 
Scholastic,  Clerical,  and  Medical  Association,  Ltd., 
etc. 


.  AS    A    BUSINESS 

The  history  of  famous  teachers  illustrates  how 
other  teachers  might  have  become  famous  if  they 
had  been  advertised.  Cyrus  Peirce  was  principal 
of  the  first  normal  school  in  the  country  only  be- 
cause Horace  Mann  happened  to  visit  his  little  Cape 
Cod  village ;  and  Nicholas  Tillinghast  would  never 
have  been  appointed  at  Bridgewater  had  his  private 
school  been  elsewThere  than  in  Boston. 

SOME    METHODS    OF    ADVERTISING 

Teachers  occasionally  advertise  themselves 
through  the  newspapers.  The  Nation  now  and 
then  contains  a  description  of  a  young  man  by 
himself,  with  announcement  that  those  who  are 
eager  for  his  services  may  apply  to  such-and-such 
an  address.  I  doubt  if  anybody  ever  got  a  place 
that  way,  partly  because  schools  are  not  in  the  habit 
of  looking  in  the  advertising  columns  when  they 
want  a  teacher,  and  partly  because  a  teacher  cannot 
in  an  advertisement  of  this  sort  tell  modestly  and 
at  the  same  time  effectively  all  that  might  be  said 
of  his  qualifications.  In  England,  where  the  sys- 
tem of  certification  is  more  complete,  so  that  a 
teacher  may  be  judged  by  the  credentials  he  holds, 
the  journals  contain  a  good  many  such  advertise- 
ments. In  the  London  Journal  of  Education  for 


FITTING    TEACHERS    TO    PLACES  103 

June  there  are  four  pages  of  advertisements  of 
teachers  and  for  teachers  ;  thus  : 

"  Wanted  in  September,  post  as  non-resident  assis- 
tant mistress  in  girls'  school.  Subjects  English  his- 
tory, literature,  geography,  grammar,  arithmetic, 
junior  French,  freehand  drawing.  Good  disciplin- 
arian. Several  years  experience  in  public  school. 
South  coast  preferred." 

"  James  Allen's  girls'  school,  East  Dulwich  Grove, 
S.  E.,  wanted  in  September  second  mistress,  non- 
resident. Subjects  English  history  and  literature, 
good  French,  elementary  mathematics.  Must  have 
degree  of  Tripos  certificate ;  salary  £140.  Also 
junior  form  mistress  :  usual  English  subjects,  ele- 
mentary French  and  German ;  physiology ;  salary 
£100.  Very  good  discipline  and  experience  in 
management  of  large  classes  essential  for  both. 
Apply  with  full  address  and  copy  of  testimonials  to 
the  head  mistress  not  later  than  June  21." 

But  the  number  of  these  advertisements  is  much 
smaller  tjian  it  used  to  be  because  the  work  is  done 
so  largely  now  by  the  various  teachers'  agencies, 
such  as  the  Teachers'  Guild  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland,  the  Scholastic  and  Transfer  Agency,  The 
Scholastic,  Clerical,  and  Medical  Association,  Ltd., 
etc. 


104  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

An  expedient  sometimes  adopted  is  for  a  teacher 
to  print  a  circular  letter  telling  what  a  great  man 
he  is,  and  send  that  around  to  boards  of  education 
in  general,  hoping  to  strike  upon  some  vacancy.  I 
have  known  this  to  be  tried  a  good  many  times  but 
never  knew  of  its  being  successful.  I  hold  such  a 
letter  in  my  hand.  It  is  as  you  see,  four  quarto 
pages  long,  and  much  of  it  is  in  nonpareil.  I 
make  some  extracts. 

"  From  16  to  18  I  was  one  of  the  very  best  stu- 
dents in  an  excellent  public  school.  .  .  . 

"I" was  very  successful,  more  by  reason  of  my 
natural  gifts  and  ability  as  a  teacher  than  because 
of  my  education.  .  .  . 

"  As  a  teacher  I  have  always  been  very  successful 
in  inspiring  my  pupils  and  in  imparting  inform- 
ation. 

"  Personally  I  am  well  fitted  to  teach.  I  am  a 
young  man  of  mature  years,  tall,  wrell-built,  of 
excellent  health,  of  pleasing  appearance,  personality, 
and  address.  ...  I  am  well-bred,  member  of 
one  of  the  best  families  in  Central  New  Jersey.  I 
have  always  been  popular ;  was  class  president, 
editor  of  the  literary  magazine,"  etc. 

Now  that  man  is  not  as  you  might  think  an  idiot. 


FITTING   TEACHERS   TO    PLACES  105 

He  is  really  a  very  good  teacher,  and  he  got  this 
summer  a  place  at  $175  a  month  in  a  first-class 
high  school.  But  he  got  it  through  a  teachers' 
agency,  and  in  asking  him  to  make  application  the 
agency  advised  him  not  to  send  that  letter.  "  Tell 
plainly  and  simply  what  you  have  done,"  it  said, 
"  and  leave  it  to  us  to  tell  how  you  did  it." 

You  all  remember  how  suddenly  and  ingloriously 
the  presidency  in  France  of  Monsieur  Grevy  came 
,to  an  end.  It  was  discovered  that  his  son-in-law 
Wilson  was  selling  decorations  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor.  I  happened  to  be  in  the  city  of  Tours  ten 
years  ago  when  Monsieur  Wilson  came  back  to  his 
constituents  to  be  vindicated.  The  town  hall  was 
literally  packed  with  an  excited  audience.  Monsieur 
Wilson  came  forward  to  make  the  great  effort  of  his 
life.  His  speech  consisted  of  four  words, — "  As  an 
honest  man — "  for  he  got  no  further.  Such  shouts 
of  derision,  such  cries  of  "  A  has!  d  bos!"  arose, 
that  his  friends  soon  found  it  discreet  to  hustle  him 
out  of  the  hall  by  a  back  exit. 

ADVERTISING   THROUGH    A    TEACHERS'    AGENCY 

There  are  few  occasions  when  it  is  desirable  to 
say,  "I  am  an  honest  man."  There  are  no  occa- 
sions when  it  is  desirable  to  say,  "  I  am  a  well-bred 


106  TEACHING   AS   A 

and  popular  man."  These  are  things  that  some- 
body else  should  say ;  and  it  is  partly  because  a 
teachers'  agency  can  say  these  things  for  a  man 
when  he  cannot  say  them  himself,  can  get  recom- 
mendations that  warrant  it  in  saying  these  things 
for  a  man  when  he  would  not  like  to  apply  for  them 
himself,  that  so  many  teachers  find  this  the  medium 
through  which  a  modest  man  may  best  present  his 
claims. 

The  time  is  past  when  it  was  thought  humiliating 
to  get  a  place  through  an  agency.  The  majority  of 
teachers  holding  high  positions  are  or  have  been 
registered  in  agencies,  including  superintendents  of 
large  cities,  the  presidents  and  professors  of  influ- 
ential colleges.  With  many  of  these  men  and 
women  it  is  a  matter  of  self-respect.  No  one  gets  a 
place  without  some  help  either  from  friends  or  from 
persons  interested,  and  this  always  involves  an 
obligation.  For  instance,  next  to  the  teachers' 
agency,  the  most  potent  influence  in  placing  teach- 
ers is  the  text-book  agent.  He  is  usually  a  man  of 
culture,  of  successful  experience  as  a  teacher,  of 
good  judgment,  and  is  often  consulted  with  benefit 
both  by  teachers  and  by  school  boards ;  but  no 
teacher  ever  got  a  place  through  a  book-agent  with- 


KITTING    TEACHERS    TO    PLACES  107 

out  feeling  a  more  or  less  definite  obligation  to  favor 
his  books  when  opportunity  offered.  Self-respecting 
men  and  women  would  usually  rather  pay  their 
obligation  by  a  definite  commission  of  five  per  cent, 
which  ends  the  transaction,  than  by  an  indefinite 
obligation  to  reciprocate. 

AGENCY    WORK    IN    OTHER    BUSINESS 

The  value  of  agency  work  in  other  kinds  of  busi- 
ness is  recognized.  Most  real-estate  in  cities,  for  in- 
stance, is  rented  and  bought  through  agencies.  In 
October,  1889,  I  got  into  Paris  at  eight  o'clock  one 
Sunday  night  on  a  through  train  from  Germany, 
with  a  family  of  six.  The  train  was  long  and 
crowded  and  late.  Jt  would  take  some  time  to  get 
our  baggage  through  the  custom  house ;  so  I  left  it 
in  charge  of  my  family  while  I  went  down  to  the 
hotel  to  make  sure  that  the  rooms  I  had  telegraphed 
for  were  secured.  I  found  the  landlord  too  over- 
worked and  worn  out  to  be  even  fairly  apologetic 
that  he  had  no  rooms.  I  went  into  a  large  hotel 
near  by  and  asked  for  quarters.  The  woman  in 
charge  took  down  a  book,  entered  my  name,  and 
asked,  "  For  when  ?  " 

"  For  to-night,  of  course,"  I  replied  ;  '-my  family 
are  at  the  station." 


108  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

"  Either  it  pleases  monsieur  to  be  facetious,  or  he 
is  ignorant  how  crowded  the  city  is.  In  three 
weeks  he  might  have  the  rooms, — certainly  not  be- 
fore." 

I  hurried  back  to  the  station  and  inquired  at  the 
hotel  opposite  if  any  rooms  were  left.  I  was  told 
that  everything  WTIS  taken  except  three  servants' 
chambers.  I  secured  these,  and  while  I  stood  there 
a  man  rushed  in  and  offered  double  price  for  them. 
It  wTas  perhaps  just  as  well  that  my  bed  was  hard, 
for  it  made  it  easy  for  me  to  lie  awake  all  night 
studying  the  problem  of  how  to  take  care  of  my 
family. 

I  solved  it.  After  breakfast  I  paid  the  bill,  left 
my  luggage  there,  took  my  family  to  the  Exposition 
grounds,  made  some  necessary  arrangements,  and 
at  noon  left  them  sitting  down  to  lunch. 

I  jumped  on  another  omnibus,  rode  to  the  Place 
de  la  Concorde,  stepped  into  the  first  real-estate 
agency  under  the  Continental  hotel,  got  a  list  of  a 
dozen  suites  of  furnished  appartments  in  the  right 
neighborhood  and  at  a  price  I  could  afford,  visited 
them  all,  picked  out  one,  paid  the  rent  for  a  month, 
paid  to  have  an  inventory  taken,  hired  the  silver 
and  linen  needed,  hired  a  maid,  ordered  wood  and 


FITTING    TEACHERS   TO    PLACES  109 

coal  and  the  necessary  groceries  ;  and  was  back  up- 
on the  Exposition  grounds  at  four  o'clock.  At  six 
my  family  sat  down  to  dinner  in  its  own  home,  and 
we  had  better  accommodations  for  a  month  than  we 
could  have  got  at  a  hotel  for  four  times  the  money. 
To  do  this  so  easily,  so  readily,  and  so  surely  was 
possible  only  through  putting  confidence  in  an  hon- 
orable and  capable  real-estate  agency. 

EARLY    HISTORY    OF    TEACHERS'    AGENCIES 

Long  ago  the  necessity  was  recognized  of  some 
system  of  registration  and  ascertainment  of  qualifi- 
cations by  which  fit  teachers  for  important  places 
could  be  found  in  some  other  way  than  by  accident. 
In  1835  the  American  Association  for  the  Supply  of 
Teachers  was  established  in  Philadelphia,  with  Hor- 
ace Binney  for  president  and  several  influential 
friends  of  education  among  its  officers.  The  consti- 
tution stated  that,  being  impressed  with  the  convic- 
tion that  the  common  schools  of  our  country  are 
often  inadequately  supplied  with  competent  teachers, 
the  subscribers  associated  themselves  to  facilitate 
"the  engagement  of  teachers  of  either  sex  qualified 
to  take  charge  of  schools  and  seminaries  in  their 
several  grades,  and  also  of  children  in  private 
families." 


110  TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS 

It  was  proposed  to  do  this  by  registering  candi- 
dates and  applications  for  teachers,  and  whenever 
the  wishes  of  applicants  corresponded  putting  them 
in  communication.  I  have  the  circular  of  this  As- 
sociation for  1839,  at  which  time  John  Ludlow, 
D.D.,  was  president,  and  E.  C.  Wines  one  of  the 
managers.  It  states  that  the  Association  had  been 
in  operation  four  years,  during  which  period  the 
extent  of  its  action  had  been  constantly  increasing. 
Its  first  attempts  were  made  as  an  experiment,  and 
its  correspondence  and  other  daily  business  were 
gratuitously  attended  to  by  one  of  the  members  who 
acted  as  secretary.  Its  operations  increased  to  such 
an  extent  as  to  require  "  the  unremitting  attention 
of  a  competent  individual".  It  was  determined  to 
engage  an  efficient  officer ;  and  to  defray  the  ex- 
penses it  was  deemed  expedient  by  the  managers 
that  every  teacher  who  was  successful  should  give 
to  the  society  2  J  %  upon  the  amount  of  the  first 
year's  salary,  while  the  schools  and  the  families 
supplied  should  contribute  the  same  amount. 

I  quote  : 

"  Teachers  applying  for  situations  will  state  in 
their  own  handwriting  : 

"  1.  Place  of  education  and  present  residence. 


FITTING   TEACHERS    TO    PLACES  111 

"2.  Age. 

"  3.  Whether  married  or  single,  and  if  married 
as  to  whether  the  gentleman  and  lady  [this  is  the 
language  of  the  modern  department  store]  will 
engage  in  teaching. 

"  4.  Whether  the  applicant  has  ever  taught ; 
where,  and  how  long. 

"  5.  The  branches  the  applicant  professes  to  teach. 

"  6.  The  situation  desired,  whether  in  an  acad- 
emy, school  or  private  family  ;  as  principal  or  assist- 
ant. 

"7.  The  location  preferred,  and  within  what 
limits  the  applicant  would  expect  a  situation. 

"8.  When  and  for  how  long  the  services  of  the 
applicant  can  be  secured. 

"9.  What  amount  of  compensation  is  expected 
by  the  year. 

"  10.  Profession  or  previous  employment  of  appli- 
cants. 

"  11.  Miscellaneous  remarks. 

"  12.  It  is  indispensable  that  all  applicants  fur- 
nish written  testimonials  of  their  literary  attainments 
and  character. " 

This,  it  will  be  seen,  covers  very  nearly  the 
ground  of  the  modern  teacher's  application  blank  ; 


112  TEACHING   AS   A    BUSINESS 

while  the  fee  is  as  now  five  per  cent  on  the  first 
year's  salary,  though  now  the  entire  fee  is  paid  by 
the  candidate  and  not  half  of  it  by  the  school. 
How  long  the  Association  lasted  after  its  enforce- 
ment of  a  fee  Barnard's  Journal  of  Education  (xv:280) 
is  unable  to  state ;  but  it  ends  its  report  of  the  As- 
sociation by  saying : 

"  There  is  a  great  want,  which  is  still  very  syste- 
matically supplied  by  such  an  agency  as  that  of 
Schermerhorn,  Bancroft  &  Co., — established  in  1855, 
and  styled  the  American  School  Institute." 

In  the  mean  time,  however,  other  attempts  had 
been  made.  The  Common  School  Journal,  New 
York's  earliest  school  paper,  printed  the  following  in 
Oct.,  1839  : 

"  To  teachers  and  schools :  Teachers  can  be 
informed  of  vacant  schools  by  applying  at  our  office, 
and  schools  desiring  teachers  can  always  be  sup- 
plied by  applying  as  above.  Schools  should  always 
state  the  wages,  etc.,  they  are  able  to  offer." 

In  the  Teachers'  Advocate,  another  New  York 
journal,  there  is  on  Dec.  24,  1847,  an  advertisement 
of  the  United  States  School  Agency,  established  in 
New  York  by  E.  H.  Wilcox.  It  charged  institu- 
tions from  $2  to  $8  for  furnishing  teachers,  and 


FITTING   TEACHERS    TO    PLACES  113 

would  keep  an  academy  supplied  with  all  its  teach- 
ers for  $15  a  year,  or  a  college  with  all  its  professors 
for  $25  a  year.  It  charged  teachers  from  $1  to  $15 
for  getting  places,  and  required  teachers  on  regis- 
tering to  pay  the  fee,  promising  to  return  it  if  a 
position  was  not  secured, — an  ingenious  project 
afterwards  revived  by  C.  H.  Evans  &  Co.,  St.  Louis, 
Mo.  Mr.  Wilcox  proved  to  be  an  irresponsible  man, 
for  subsequently  (iii:249)  the  editor  was  obliged  to 
announce  that  Mr.  Wilcox  as  agent  for  that  journal 
had  wrongfully  sent  out  bills,  and  that  in  the  future 
all  dealings  should  be  with  the  managers  alone. 
From  this  time  the  advertisement  disappeared. 

The  American  School  Institute  however,  proved  a 
great  success.  At  the  time  Mr.  Schermerhorn's 
business  became  bankrupt  through  mining  specula- 
tion and  was  sold  at  auction  in  1876,  some  of  his 
friends  secured  for  him  the  books  and  name  and 
business  of  the  American  Institute  for  the  sum  of 
$250,  and  it  was  continued  by  him,  and  after  his 
death  by  his  widow.  At  one  time  the  income  was 
said  to  be  $20,000  a  year.  In  plan  it  was  based, 
like  most  of  the  modem  teachers'  agencies,  upon 
this  American  Association  for  the  Supply  of  Teach- 
ers founded  in  1839. 


114  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

INFORMATION    VS.    RECOMMENDATION    AGENCIES 

The  main  distinction  among  agencies  is  between 
the  information  and  the  recommendation  agencies. 
The  information  agencies  depend  upon  early  notifi- 
cation of  vacancies.  They  learn  in  all  ways  they 
can  where  a  teacher  is  likely  to  be  wanted,  and  then 
notify  the  teachers  on  their  list  who  have  anywhere 
near  the  requirements  in  the  hope  that  some  one  of 
them  may  secure  the  place.  Some  of  them  attempt 
nothing  more.  One  agency,  established  in  1881, 
announced  : 

"  I  offer  to  teachers  desiring  employment  or 
change  of  location  the  readiest  means  for  obtaining 
it.  I  have  ample  facilities  for  learning  of  vacan- 
cies in  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  by  placing 
your  interests  in  my  hands  you  may  obtain  a  desir- 
able position.  I  send  out  reports  of  vacancies  every 
few  weeks.  These  reports  contain  a  list  of  positions 
that  have  been  reported  to  me  as  vacant  and  those 
that  I  have  good  reason  to  believe  are  vacant. 
When  a  member  sees  one  or  more  vacancies  that  he 
wishes  to  apply  for  he  writes  me  for  the  address  of 
the  number,  which  I  give  at  once.  He  then  applies 
for  the  place  if  he  desires  to  secure  it  for  himself. 
I  charge  an  advance  fee  of  one  dollar.  This  must 


FITTING   TEACHERS    TO    PLACES  115 

accompany  the  application.  I  charge  an  additional 
fee  of  $25  when  a  position  is  secured. " 

So  far  as  I  know  this  business  was  not  continued 
after  the  first  year,  from  which  I  judge  the  scheme 
did  not  prove  successful,  though  new  attempts  on  this 
plan  are  occasionally  advertised.  At  the  present 
time  there  are  at  least  three  news-agencies  in  Chi- 
cago that  offer  daily  reports  of  vacancies,  made  up 
from  newspaper  clippings,  at  the  rate  of  ten  cents  a 
day. 

The  Assistant  Masters'  Association  of  London 
"supplies  particulars  of  vacancies  for  Assistant 
Masters'  notified  to  the  Association  by  Head  Mas- 
ters, and  of  advertised  vacancies  collected  from  all 
sources."  It  charges  members  62J  cts.  and  non- 
members  $1.25  for  "at  least  20  suitable  notices".* 

The  information  agency  usually,  however,  as- 
sumes to  do  more  or  less  recommending  ;  and  it  has 
a  good  many  advantages.  Take % for  instance  my 
own  State  of  New  York.  There  are  every  year  about 
one  hundred  changes  of  principals  in  schools  paying 
from  $1.000  to  $1,500,  and  it  may  be  predicted  at 
the  beginning  of  the  year  that  most  of  the  one 
hundred  new  places  will  be  filled  from  a  list  of  say 

*  Education,  London,  June  5,  1897, 


116  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

two  hundred  men.  If  the  information  agency  can 
secure  either  by  registration,  or  by  personal  letters 
offering  free  registration,  the  names  upon  its  lists  of 
all  these  two  hundred  men,  if  it  can  learn  of  these 
vacancies  beforehand,  and  if  it  can  inform  all  these 
men  of  each  vacancy  before  they  learn  of  it  else- 
where, it  will  earn  a  commission  upon  the  entire  one 
hundred  places. 

On  the  other  hand  suppose  the  recommendation 
agency  has  also  all  these  two  hundred  men  upon  its 
list  and  is  asked  to  fill  every  one  of  these  one  hun- 
dred places ;  suppose  it  recommends  three  men  for 
each  place,  and  suppose  that,  owing  to  its  superior 
facilities  for  knowing  the  men  and  the  schools  and 
the  relative  wants  of  each,  it  really  does  select  in 
each  case  the  best  three  men  for  each  place  ;  yet  out 
of  all  these  one  hundred  places  it  may  not  fill  a 
single  one.  Every  board  may  choose  some  man  on 
the  agency  list,  not  quite  so  close  a  fit  as  the  three 
recommended,  but  still  a  very  good  man  for  the 
place. 

In  fact,  it  not  infrequently  happens  that  it  is  a 
disadvantage  to  an  agency  to  have  application  made 
to  it,  because  specifications  are  stated  which  are  not 
afterwards  insisted  upon.  Suppose  a  school  writes 


MTTING   TEACHERS   TO   PLACES  117 

for  a  principal  at  $1,200,  and  says,  "Give  us  the 
best  man  on  your  list  who  is  married  and  can  speak 
German  fluently."  The  agency  carefully  selects 
three  men  with  these  qualifications,  and  learns  a 
fortnight  afterward  that  the  board  has  elected  a 
principal  who  is  not  married  and  knows  nothing  of 
German.  The  very  fact  that  the  board  applied  to 
it  and  nlade  these  specifications  which  it  did  not 
insist  upon,  prevents  the  agency  from  recommend- 
ing the  man  afterwards  elected. 

One  development  of  the  information  agency  is 
especially  deplorable.  In  their  anxiety  to  get  early 
information  of  vacancies  some  agencies  offer  five 
dollars  to  any  one  who  gives  them  the  first  wrord  of 
a  vacancy  they  afterwards  fill.  This  has  led  some 
city  superintendents  to  accept  five  dollars  for  each 
teacher  whom  they  place  in  their  schools,- — a  form 
of  bribery  beneath  contempt ;  and  it  has  also  led 
teachers  to  play  the  Paul  Pry,  seeking  after  knowl- 
edge of  dissatisfaction,  if  possible  magnifying  it, 
and  thus  helping  to  create  a  vacancy  in  order  that 
they  may  get  paid  for  giving  notice  of  it.  Some 
enterprising  teachers  have  even  gone  so  far  as  to 
send  in,  without  any  knowledge  concerning  them,  a 
list  of  fifty  schools,  on  the  general  theory  that  out 


118  TEACHING    AS    A    BUSINESS 

of  the  fifty  at  least  half-a-dozen  will  change  princi- 
pals anyway,  and  that  if  any  one  of  these  half- 
dozen  places  is  filled  by  the  agency  it  brings  the  in- 
formant five  dollars.  No  matter  that  hundreds  of 
teachers  are  led  to  write  careful  letters  and  send 
copied  testimonials  with  photographs  and  return 
envelopes,  no  matter  that  boards  are  overwhelmed 
with  applications  for  vacancies  that  do  no-t  exist ; 
there  is  here  a  possibility  of  getting  a  few  dollars 
and  it  is  eagerly  seized.  I  have  no  hesitation  in 
saying  that  any  agency  which  pays  for  this  kind  of 
work  is  for  that  reason  alone  unworthy  of  confidence. 

THE    BEST    WAY    TO    SECURE     TEACHERS 

The  work  of  the  information  agencies  has  put 
many  school  boards  upon  the  defensive,  so  that 
when  a  vacancy  can  be  anticipated  the  school  board 
goes  upon  a  still-hunt  for  a  new  teacher  before  the 
vacancy  is  made  known.  This  is  undoubtedly  the 
best  way  of  securing  a  teacher.  The  board  can  go 
to  a  recommendation  agency,  can  look  over  the 
credentials  of  fifty  candidates  who  would  be  eligible, 
can  narrow  the  choice  down  to  three  or  four,  can 
send  a  representative  to  visit  these  three  or  four 
teachers  in  their  own  schools,  can  make  engagement 
with  the  teacher  whose  work  is  most  satisfactory, 


FITTING   TEACHERS   T6   PLACES  119 

and  need  never  tell  the  others  why  they  were  visited. 
This  is  the  highest  work  an  agency  can  do,  and  the 
best  development  thus  far  of  methods  of  securing 
teachers. 

But  the  recommendation  agencies  still  fail  to  give 
schools  anything  like  the  help  they  are  capable  of 
affording  because  they  have  not  yet  overcome  some 
of  the  prejudices  that  a  new  enterprise  is  sure  to 
encounter. 

DO    AGENCIES   CHARGE    EXCESSIVE    COMMISSIONS? 

For  instance,  it  is  felt  by  a  good  many  teachers 
and  boards  of  education  that  the  commissions  ex- 
acted are  disproportionate  to  the  service  rendered. 
Not  infrequently  a  candidate  registers,  proves  to  be 
precisely  the  man  that  has  been  wanted  for  a  particu- 
lar position,  and  is  engaged  within  24  hours  at  a 
salary  "of  $2,000. 

When  the  devil  was  sick  the  devil  a  monk  would  be ; 
When  the  devil  got  well  the  devil  a  monk  was  he  ! 

When  a  man  has  suddenly  lost  his  place  and 
must  get  another  he  is  willing  to  make  almost  any 
promise  to  secure  it,  and  while  the  place  is  still  in 
the  future  he  thinks  the  $100  he  is  to  pay  for  get- 
ting it  a  small  amount ;  but  when  he  has  got  it,  he 
sometimes  grudges  giving  up  his  salary  for  two 


120  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

weeks  to  pay  for  work  the  -manager  did  in  five 
minutes. 

It  will  be  found,  however,  that  even  the  largest 
and  most  successful  agencies  are  not  more  highly 
paid  than  other  business  as  well  done.  Agency 
work  is  like  diamond-mining  ;  for  the  hour  in  which 
a  man  finds  a  diamond  he  is  extravagantly  paid, 
but  for  the  days  he  is  hunting  for  diamonds  with- 
out finding  them  his  time  must  be  charged  up  with 
the  rest.  Agencies  have  lucky  strikes.  A  single 
call  and  half  a  day's  work  may  bring  $200  in  com- 
missions ;  but  on  the  other  hand  the  agency  does 
thousands  of  dollars  worth  of  work  without  return. 
The  book-keeping  and  correspondence,  and  the  time 
given  to  study  and  selection  of  candidates  involve 
great  outlay ;  a  good  many  thousands  of  dollars 
must  come  back  to  any  large  agency  before  the 
actual  running  expenses  for  the  year  are  met. 

It  is  not  strange  that  a  business  which  seemingly 
requires  no  capital  should  prove  attractive  to  many 
idle  men  and  women,  so  that  every  year  scores  of 
agencies  are  started.  But  few  of  them  survive. 
They  take  in  some  registration  fees  for  a  year  or 
two,  with  here  and  there  a  commission  ;  but  they 
find  that  the  field  is  pretty  well  occupied  by  agencies 


FITTING  TEACHEKS  TO  PLACES  121 

already  established  and  having  sources  of  informa- 
tion and  influence  which  no  new  agency  can  com- 
mand, and  they  soon  disappear.  You  may  be 
sure  that  any  recommendation  agency  which  en- 
dures earns  every  dollar  of  its  income. 

DO    AGENCIES    MAKE    TEACHERS    UNEASY? 

Another  objection  urged  is  that  agencies  tend  to 
make  teachers  uneasy  and  thus  promote  unneces- 
sary changes.  This  depends  largely  upon  the 
agency.  Just  as  there  are  pettifoggers  who  always 
advise  prospective  clients  to  go  to  law,  for  the  sake 
of  the  fees,  so  there  are  agencies  that  try  to  make 
teachers  discontented  for  the  sake  of  placing  them 
and  their  successors.  But  not  all  lawyers  recom- 
mend litigation.  The  respectable  counsellor-at-law 
in  the  majority  of  cases  advises  the  client  that, 
whatever  his  rights  in  the  matter  may  be,  he  is  not 
unlikely  under  our  imperfect  jury  system  to  lose  his 
case  ;  while  even  if  he  wins  it  the  game  will  not  be 
worth  the  candle.  So  the  better  class  of  agencies 
counsel  teachers  who  come  to  them  with  sole  regard 
to  the  interest  of  the  teachers  themselves,  almost 
never  advising  a  teacher  to  give  up  a  place  until 
some  other  has  been  secured,  and  usually  advising 
him  to  remain  where  he  is  giving  satisfaction  and 
his  services  are  appreciated. 


122  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

So  when  schools  consult  agencies,  as  they  fre- 
quently do  with  reference  to  possible  changes,  the 
better  agencies  often  advise  the  retention  of  teachers 
at  present  employed. 

I  know  of  a  case  where  the  principal  of  one  of 
our  best  normal  schools  wrote  to  an  agency  that  he 
was  not  satisfied  with  the  work  of  one  of  his  teach- 
ers, but  was  not  sure  he  could  better  it ;  and  unless 
he  was  certain  of  improvement  he  did  not  want  her 
to  know  that  she  was  even  under  criticism.  The 
agenc}^  replied  that  this  same  lady  was  upon  its  list, 
and  that  if  the  principal  had  come  to  it  for  such  a 
teacher  without  telling  who  he  was,  the  agency 
would  have  recommended  this  lady  as  the  best 
qualified  for  it.  It  gave  the  principal  the  names  of 
three  or  four  others  likely  to  do  the  same  work 
somewhere  near  as  well,  and  advised  him  to  call 
upon  them,  see  their  work  in  their  own  schools, 
consider  the  circumstances  under  which  the  work 
would  be  done  in  his  normal  school,  and  then  judge 
for  himself  whether  he  was  likely  to  profit  by  the 
change.  The  principal  did  so,  became  satisfied  that 
his  teacher  was  doing  relatively  better  work  than 
he  had  supposed,  and  still  retains  her.  She  does 
not  know  to  this  day  that  there  was  ever  a  thought 


BITTING   TEACHERS    TO    PLACES  123 

of  replacing  her,  and  no  one  of  the  three  teachers 
on  whom  the  principal  called  ever  learned  why  he 
came  to  see  them. 

This  was  a  case  where  the  agency  lost  a  $50  com- 
mission which  it  could  have  secured  by  giving  dif- 
ferent advice  ;  but  the  purposes  of  the  agencies  that 
endure  is  not  to  get  fees  in  isolated  instances,  but  to 
build  up  a  reputation  for  fair  dealing  and  sound 
advice  which  makes  it  seem  natural  and  proper  for 
boards  of  education  to  consult  them.  And  as  the 
better  class  of  lawyers  discourage  litigation,  so  the 
better  class  of  agencies  discourage  changes,  and 
recommend  them  only  where  there  is  manifest  unfit- 
ness  between  the  candidate  and  the  place. 

As  to  the  candidates  the  agency  itself  places,  their 
permanence  is  the  corner-stone  of  its  success.  The 
proof  that  a  square  peg  has  been  found  for  the 
square  hole  is  that  it  stays.  The  agency's  interest 
in  a  candidate  does  not  end  when  it  has  got  the 
commission.  It  watches  his  work  ;  inquires  about 
him ;  gives  him  encouragement,  suggestion,  warn- 
ing sometimes  ;  and  feels  that  its  own  reputation  is 
dependent  somewhat  upon  his  remaining.  It  has 
no  greater  pride  than  when  the  continued  success  of 
a  teacher  is  applauded  to  say,  "  We  put  him  there." 


124  TEACHING   AS   A    BUSINESS 

But  do  agencies  never  encourage  changes  ?  Yes, 
sometimes.  When  a  teacher  is  imposed  upon,  the 
agency  protects  him.  If  a  teacher  worth  fifteen 
dollars  a  week  can  get  only  eight  dollars  at  home 
because  the  board  counts  upon  her  being  afraid  to 
give  up  her  place,  the  agency  says  to  her,  Resign  ; 
the  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire  and  he  can  get  it. 
When  trustees  surround  a  principal  with  such 
restrictions  that  he  cannot  work  freely,  the  agency 
says,  Resign ;  teaching  is  hard  enough  when  con- 
ditions are  favorable ;  do  not  chafe  under  an  ill- 
fitting  harness.  The  common-place,  the  incompe- 
tent, the  fault-finding  had  better  hang  on  to  the 
places  they  happen  to  have  :  the  agency  has  no  use 
for  them.  But  the  man  who  has  proved  himself  a 
real  teacher  need  submit  to  no  indignity  ;  he  may 
stand  upon  his  manhood,  assured  that  the  agency 
will  take  care  of  him. 

DO    AGENCIES  SUPPRESS  THE  FAULTS    OF   CANDIDATES? 

Again  it  is  urged  that  agencies  tell  only  the  good 
things  about  candidates,  suppressing  the  faults  that 
they  have  discovered.  It  may  be  replied  in  the  first 
place  that  reputable  agencies,  even  if  they  do  not 
always  speak  of  the  faults  of  a  candidate,  always 
consider  them  in  selecting  the  candidate  for  a  par- 


FITTING   TEACHERS    TO    PLACES  125 

ticular  place.  If  the  candidate  is  weak  in  discipline, 
for  instance,  the  agency  will  recommend  him  only 
where  discipline  is  not  an  important  feature ;  and 
again  if  the  candidate  is  weak  in  scholarship  and 
strong  in  executive  management,  it  will  place  him 
where  his  work  will  be  superintend  ency  rather 
than  teaching.  Any  agency  of  experience  knows 
that  it  costs  it  more  to  place  one  teacher  where  he 
fails,  than  to  lose  a  dozen  places. 

An  agency  would  be  willing  to  go  further  than 
this,  and  state  what  are  the  weak  points  of  a  can- 
didate if  it  was  properly  sustained  by  boards  of 
education  ;  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  cannot  do  this 
because  its  communications  to  the  board  are  not 
always  considered  as  they  should  be  strictly  confi- 
dential. Not  infrequently  the  recommendation  of 
the  agency  is  bundled  up  with  the  recommendations 
sent  by  the  candidate,  and  all  are  returned  to 
the  candidate  together.  Now  the  recommendation 
of  the  agency  usually  quotes  from  the  replies  from 
those  to  whom  the  candidate  has  referred,  and  these 
letters  are  sent  under  a  special  guarantee  that  their 
contents  shall  not  be  made  known  to  the  candidate, 
whether  favorable  or  not.  If  then  unfavorable 
criticisms  made  upon  the  candidate  were  quoted  in 


126  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

the  letter  of  recommendation,  and  this  letter  of 
recommendation  were  returned  to  the  candidate,  the 
pledge  of  secrecy  to  those  to  whom  the  candidate 
referred  would  be  broken. 

But  there  is  a  consideration  beyond  this.  It  is 
not  safe  to  mention  to  the  average  board  of  educa- 
tion the  faults  of  a  candidate.  The  board  knows  in 
a  general  way  that  all  teachers  must  have  faults, 
yet  it  seldom  asks  what  the  faults  are  or  consider 
them  in  perspective  if  they  are  named.  Take  for 
instance  a  very  common  type  of  teacher,  and  a 
very  useful  one.  Suppose  an  agency  writes  to  a 
board  of  education  that  has  applied  for  a  teacher  of 
the  8th  grade : 

Miss is  a  hustler,  with  all  that  the  word  im- 
plies. She  is  quick-tempered  ;  rather  coarse ;  full 
of  life  and  energy ;  able  to  cope  with  boys  on  their 
own  ground  and  get  the  best  of  them  ;  not  broad  in 
general  scholarship,  but  sound  in  the  subjects  she  is 
called  upon  to  teach ;  and  the  kind  of  woman  that 
never  fails.  You  would  think  to  see  her  with  her 
children  at  recess  that  she  was  a  tomboy,  but  when 
the  bell  rings  she  is  mistress  of  the  school  :  and 
boys  whom  no  other  teacher  has  been  able  to  man- 
age would  give  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  points  by  lying 


FITTING   TEACHERS    TO    PLACES  127 

down  themselves  in  the  mud  for  her  to  walk  over 
them  if  she  feared  to  get  her  feet  wet." 

Now  that  is  a  frank  description  of  a  superior  8th 
grade  teacher  in  a  rough  school,  yet  there  are  almost 
no  boards  of  education  that  would  engage  her  if 
thus  recommended.  They  would  remember  that 
she  was  coarse  and  quick-tempered  ;  they  would  for- 
get that  she  had  the  power  of  making  boys  swear 
by  her.  You  may  select  her  in  your  own  mind  for 
the  school,  with  every  point  counting,  but  to  get  her 
into  the  school  you  must  say  : 

"  I  take  pleasure  in  recommending  Miss  . 

She  is  a  lady  of  great  energy  and  force  of  character, 
strong  in  discipline  and  always  successful." 

The  more  you  go  into  detail  beyond  that  the  less 
likely  you  are  to  secure  her  a  position,  not  because 
you  do  not  want  to  be  frank,  but  because  your  ex- 
perience teaches  you  that  it  is  not  safe  to  be  frank. 

Have  you  ever  tried  recommending  a  teacher 
who  was  lame  or  deformed,  and  have  you  not  been 
exasperated  to  find  how  deaf  that  single  statement 
makes  the  employer  to  all  you  may  say  ?  One  tells 
you  coarsely  that  while  he  is  hiring  a  teacher  he 
thinks  he  might  as  well  hire  a  whole  one.  Another 
remarks  that  in  a  school  where  the  teacher  limps 


128  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

the  scholars  will  all  limp  with  the  same  leg.  You 
tell  him  that  you  would  be  glad  to  have  your  boy 
limp  if  that  unconscious  physical  imitation  were  a 
sign  that  he  were  imitating  in  his  soul  the  sweetness 
that  struggle  and  victory  have  impressed  upon  that 
teacher's  countenance ;  but  you  tell  him  in  vain. 

DO    AGENCIES    RECOMMEND    UNFIT    CANDIDATES? 

Another  and  perhaps  the  most  frequent  objection 
to  agencies  is  the  number  of  candidates  they  send, 
and  the  unfitness  of  them  for  the  particular  place. 

Here  is  the  broad  distinction  between  the  infor- 
mation and  the  recommendation  agencies.  Still  it 
must  be  admitted  that  in  this  respect  even  the 
recommendation  agency  is  under  constant  tempta- 
tion. If  it  has  just  the  teacher  wanted  at  just  the 
salary  named,  the  work  is  simple  ;  but  every  specifi- 
cation reduces  the  number  of  available  candidates, 
so  that  few  calls  can  be  exactly  met.  A  man  comes 
to  an  agency  and  says,  "  I  want  a  teacher." 

"  Very  well,"  the  manager  replies,  "I  have  10,- 
000  on  my  list." 

"  I  want  a  man  teacher." 

"  I  have  5,000." 

"  I  want  a  college  graduate." 

" I  have  2,500." 


FITTING   TEACHERS    TO    PLACES  129 

"  A  graduate  of  a  New  England  college." 

"  I  have  400." 

11  He  must  have  had  experience  as  principal  of  a 
high  school." 

"  I  have  75." 

"  Able  to  speak  French  fluently." 

"I  have  4." 

"  A  member  of  the  Baptist  church." 

"  I  have  one." 

"  Who  can  be  had  for  $1,000  a  year." 

"  I  haven't  any." 

Now  what  is  the  manager  to  do ;  reply  simply 
"  I  cannot  meet  your  wants  "  ;  or  come  as  near  as 
he  can  to  the  demands  ?  Naturally  the  latter,  and 
the  number  of  candidates  will  be  greater  in  propor- 
tion as  it  is  difficult  to  approach  closely  to  the  speci- 
fications. This  approximation  is  sometimes  ex- 
tended to  a  very  wide  range.  "  Have  you  ever  been 
abroad  ? "  was  asked  of  a  woman ;  who  replied 
hesitatingly,  "  Why,  no,  not  exactly  ;  but  my  mother 
had  an  aunt  whose  maiden  name  was  French." 

A  physician  returning  from  his  morning  calls 
found  written  on  his  slate : 

"  Please  come  to  13  Grape  street  at  once ;  my 
wife  has  the  small-pox." 


130  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

The  physician  informed  the  board  of  health,  and 
hurried  to  the  house,  armed  with  fumigants ;  but 
when  he  saw  the  patient  he  exclaimed  to  the 
husband : 

"  Why  this  is  not  small-pox  ;  she  has  inflamma- 
tory rheumatism. " 

"  I  know  that,"  he  replied,  "  but  I  couldn't  spell 
rheumatism." 

Now  small-pox  is  as  near  to  inflammatory  rheu- 
matism as  some  teachers  are  to  the  requirements  of 
the  places  for  which  they  are  recommended. 

Just  where  to  draw  the  line  between  teachers 
wholly  unqualified  and  those  who  might  possibly 
be  considered  is  often,  even  for  the  careful  and  re- 
sponsible agency,  a  difficult  problem. 

SPECIFICATION    OF    NON-ESSENTIALS 

In  fact,  it  may  be  said  in  general  that  the  great- 
est obstacle  to  the  entire  success  of  agency  work  is 
specification  of  non-essentials.  You  have  all  seen 
the  formidable  blanks  that  various  superintendents 
send  oat  to  be  filled  by  prospective  candidates.  I 
hold  in  my  hand  one  which  I  select  as  a  specimen, 
not  by  any  means  because  it  is  the  longest  or  most 
minute,  but  because  it  has  the  curious  characteristic 
of  numerical  percentages ;  something  on  the  plan 
of  John  Phoenix,  who  thought  our  quantitative 


FITTING   TEACHERS   TO    PLACES 


131 


adverbs  too  indefinite,  and  would  have  our  novels 
read  that  on  a  72  delightful  evening  in  the  99 
sparkling  moonlight,  a  67  tall  and  93  handsome 
young  man  was  walking  with  a  79  petite  and  100 
charming  maiden,  etc. 

No Name Age..      Exam- 
ined  189... 

NOTE.— Perfection  is  represented  by  100,  and  deductions 
are  to  be  made  as  provided  under  each  head. 


1.  FIGURE.— Height.... ft.,  ...inches.    Weight.... 
pounds. 

^~  Heights  and  weights  should  correspond  as 
follows  :  5  feet,  110  ;  5  feet  2,  120 ;  5  feet  4,  130 ;  5 
feet  6, 140 ;  5  feet  8, 150.  For  every  variation  of  10 
Ibs.  from  this  standard  deduct  10. 

Deduct  also  as  follows,  filling  out  blanks  when 
deduction  is  made  :  Round  shoulders  50, ;  nar- 
row shoulders  30, ;  pinched  waist  99, ;  languid 

or  slouchy  walk,  50, ;  large  hands  (gloves  above 

7's)  20, ;  finger  nails  short  to  the  quick  60, ; 

large  feet  (shoes  above  6's)  30, ;  too  narrow 

shoes,  run  over  at  the  sides,  70, ;  small  heels 

in  middle  of  the  foot,  80, ;  general  bony  ap- 
pearance, 40, . 

Extras.    Add  as  follows :  Natural  erect  seat, 

without  using  back  of  the  chair,  40, ;  firm  and 

graceful  walk,  40, ;  small  hands  (gloves  5's  or 

under),  10, ;  hands  white  and  plump,  25, ; 

small  feet  (shoes  4 1s  or  under),  20, ;  general  neat- 
ness and  nattiness,  50, . 

2.  HAIR.— Deduct  as  follows  ;  Bangs,  20,  . . . ;  friz 
zing  of  the  bangs  30,— .. . ;  false  hair  (if  perceptible), 

70, ;  straggling  behind,  20, ;  loose  hairs  on 

garments,  each,  50, . 

Extras.    Add  for  clear,  clean  parting,  50, ; 

for  notable  smoothness  and  neatness,  50, . 

3.  EYES.— Deduct  as  follows ;  shortsightedness, 
20,  .  . . ;  evasive  glance,  40, . 

Extras.    Add   for  heavy   lids  and   eyebrows, 

30, ;  notably  clear,  calm,  straightforward  glance, 

100, . 


100 


100 


100 


132 


TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS 


4.  NOSE.— Deduct   as   follows :   Roman,  20, ; 

beaked,  60, ;  pug,  30,     ;  turn-up,  70, ;  sharp- 
pointed,  70, . 

5.  MOUTH.  —  Deduct   as  follows ;   If  habitually 

open,   90,  — — ;    excessively    large,    20, ;    thin 

pinched   lips,  40, ;  discontented,  scornful  ex- 
pression, 80, . 

Extras.    Add  for  Cupid's  bow,  20, ;  red  lips, 

20, ;  appearance  of  continually  hovering  on  a 

smile,  if  not  affected,  30, . 

6.  VOICE. — Deduct  as  follows  :  Loudness,  40, ; 

high  pitch,  60, ;  habit  of  confidentially  whisper- 
ing what  should  be  said  aloud,  6G, . 

7.  TEETH.— Deduct  as  follows  :  Uncleanly,  90,  — ; 

teeth  visibly  wanting,  each,  10, ;  disposition  to 

show  them  unnecessarily  when  handsome,  40, . 

Extras.     Add  when  white,   even,   complete, 
100, 100. 

8.  CHIN.— Deduct  as  follows :  Recessive,  feeble, 
80, ;  sharp-pointed,  30, . 

9.  COMPLEXION.— Deduct  as  follows:   Sallow,  20, 

. . .  ;  dead,   colorless  white,    60, ;   scrofulous 

blotches,  40, ;  any  evidence  of  paint  or  powder, 

90, . 

10.  ATTIRE.— Deduct  as  follows  ;  Unmatched  col- 
ors, 50, ;  loud  colors  or  figures,  40, ;  greasi- 

ness,  especially  about  the  neck,  80, ;  faded,  es- 
pecially under  the  armpits,  30, ;  soiled,  espec- 
ially collar  and  cuffs,  60, ;  tears  or  rips,  if  seen 

a  second  time,  50, ;  ragged  edge,  as  to  skirt 

of  dress,  50, ;  general  appearance  of  expensive- 
ness  without  pleasant  effect,  50, . 

Extras.    Add  for  simplicity  w^en  attractive, 

80, ;  general  appearance  of  getting  pleasing  re- 

'sult  by  care  and  good  taste  at  little  cost,  100,  


TOTAL.    Normal  basis  100  on  each  of  10  points,  or 

1000 ;  600  required  to  pass.  Balance, 

It  is  hereby  certified  that  the  candidate   has 


100 


100 


100 


100 


100 


Chairman  Examining  Committee, 

There  is  a  good  deal  of  judgment  in  that  schedule. 
The  points  made  are  generally  sound,  and  the 
marking  is  as  just  as  could  be  expected.  But  the 


FITTING   TEACHERS   TO   PLACES  133 

difficulty  is  that  in  its  attention  to  details  it  forgets 
the  main  point.  With  all  these  extras  a  woman 
might  stand  1765  on.  the  basis  of  1000,  and  yet  not 
have  the  soul  of  an  educated  flea. 

GREAT    TEACHERS    SELDOM    FAULTLESS 

Look  back  over  your  life  as  a  pupil,  call  to  mind 
the  teacher  who  did  most  for  you,  and  ask  yourself 
whether  that  teacher  would  ever  have  been  engaged 
under  this  schedule.  I  know  a  man  the  hairs  on 
whose  coat-collar  alone  would  on  this  schedule  carry 
him  below  zero  to  a  point  beyond  where  mercury 
freezes  ;  and  yet  who  was  a  great  teacher, — a  teacher 
who  could  pinch  the  maker  of  this  schedule  between 
his  thumb  and  first  finger  and  laugh  at  him  as 
the  king  of  Brobdingnag  did  at  Gulliver. 

You  know  I  suppose  some  of  the  anecdotes  about 
Prof.  Sylvester,  who  died  not  long  ago.  He  was  the 
man,  who  walking  by  one  of  the  markets  of  Balti- 
more, and  suddenly  hitting  upon  the  solution  of  a 
mathematical  problem,  pulled  a  piece  of  crayon  out 
of  his  pocket  and  began  to  cipher  on  the  back  flap  of 
a  buggy  that  was  standing  by  the  curb.  The  owner 
mounted  the  buggy  and  drove  off,  and  Prof.  Sylves- 
ter followed,  still  working  at  his  problem.  The 
horse  began  to  trot,  Prof.  Sylvester  still  worked  at  his 


134  TEACHING   AS   A   BUSINESS 

problem,  and  he  hung  on  to  the  buggy,  still  cipher- 
ing, until  the  pace  of  the  horse  became  too  much 
for  him,  and  he  was  forced,  somewhat  indignantly, 
to  let  go. 

His  wife  had  learned  that  he  needed  close  looking 
after.  One  day  he  purchased  a  new  pair  of  trousers 
without  her  knowledge.  She  went  into  his  room 
about  nine  o'clock  the  next  morning,  found  his  old 
pair  hanging  over  the  back  of  a  chair,  seized  them 
in  consternation,  pulled  on  her  hat,  and  at  the  top 
of  her  speed  rushed  with  them  on  her  arm  for  the 
university  building.  Entering  she  met  one  of  the 
professors  and  inquired  breathlessly  : 

"Oh,  Dr.  Runkle,  have  you  seen  my  husband?" 

"Why,  yes,"  he  replied,  "I  just  passed  him  at 
the  door  of  his  classroom." 

"And  did  he  have  on ?" 

"Why  certainly." 

"  Thank  heaven  !  "  and  she  sank  upon  a  bench 
exhausted. 

Now  suppose,  and  it  is  well  within  the  range  of 
possibility,  Prof.  Sylvester  had  presented  himself 
without  his  trousers  to  this  committee-man,  how 
would  this  committee-man  have  marked  him? 
And  yet,  in  the  perspective  of  eternity,  which 


FITTING  TEACHERS   TO   PLACES  135 

measures  men  by  what  they  accomplish,  Prof.  Sylves- 
ter's shadow  will  obscure  a  million  such  dainty 
committee-men. 

THE    ESSENTIALNESS    OF    DYNAMIC    FORCE 

The  great  fault  in  the  selection  of  teachers  to-day 
is  failure  to  recognize  the  essentialness  of  dynamic 
force.  What  we  want  in  the  school-room  is  more 
positive  elements.  If  you  buy  a  horse  your  first 
question  is  not  how  he  is  shod  or  groomed,  but,  Can 
he  go  ?  That  is  what  you  buy  a  horse  for.  And 
so  when  you  hire  a  teacher,  all  these  inquiries  about 
whether  he  has  a  pug  nose,  or  wears  a  red  necktie, 
are  subordinate  to  the  great  question,  Can  he  teach  ? 
Can  he  give  our  boys  the  vigor,  the  force,  the 
manliness,  that  will  make  them  get  somewhere  ? 

Do  you  never  realize  that  if  you  put  into  your 
school-room  a  woman  who  drags  one  foot  after  the 
other  as  though  the  day's  task  were  an  imposition 
too  hard  for  her,  you  are  lowering  the  vitality  of 
every  child  in  the  room  ?  What  you  want  to  con- 
sider before  scholarship,  before  normal  training, 
before  experience,  and  even  before  good  manners,  is 
the  spirit,  the  vigor,  the  sound  character,  the  bright 
and  cheerful  views  of  life,  that  make  a  woman  like 
a  ray  of  sunshine  in  the  school-room.  First  a 


136  TEACHING   AS   A    BUSINESS 

woman,  then  a  lady,  then  as  much  more  as  you  can 
get ;  but  while  you  are  marking  how  short  her 
finger  nails  are  cut,  and  whether  her  gown  is  faded 
under  the  arm-pits,  you  lose  sight  of  the  one  thing 
which  determines  whether  she  is  fit  to  be  put  over 
your  children. 

THE    AGENCY    A    STOREHOUSE    OF    INFORMATION 

When  this  basis  of  selection  is  insisted  upon  the 
importance  of  the  teachers'  agency  will  be  more 
generally  recognized.  A  long-established  agency 
becomes  the  store-house  of  an  immense  amount  of 
knowledge  about  teachers.  There  are  the  registra- 
tion blanks  from  year  to  year,  the  replies  from 
references,  the  conversations  about  them  held  with 
neighboring  teachers,  and  the  various  ways  in 
which  they  reveal  themselves  in  their  own  corres- 
pondence and  in  interviews,  until  in  the  field  that  it 
covers  an  agency  knows  all  teachers  of  prominence 
to  an  extent  that  would  not  be  possible  except  with 
the  facilities  offered  and  the  care  and  labor  bestowed. 
I  cannot  in  this  place  dwell  upon  the  wholly  un- 
worthy men  and  •  sometimes  the  wholly  unworthy 
women,  who  are  still  teachers  because  school 
boards  continue  to  engage  them  upon  first  impres- 
sions without  looking  into  their  records.  There  are 


FITTING   TEACHERS    TO    PLACES  137 

at  this  time  in  the  State  prisons  of  New  York  three 
men  who  were  simultaneously  principals  of  large 
union  schools  in  the  State,  and  there  are  in  other 
States  teachers  who  would  be  in  Slate  prison  if  their 
crimes  were  detected. 

SQUARE    PEGS    IN    SQUARE    HOLES 

But  apart  from  this  very  serious  consideration, 
for  some  of  these  men  have  left  trails  of  iniquity 
behind  them  that  generations  wrill  not  wipe  out, 
there  are  personal  peculiarities  of  men  and  women 
with  which  an  agency  becomes  acquainted  and 
which  render  them  especially  fitted  or  especially 
unfitted  for  certain  places.  A  thoroughbred  would 
never  be  successful  before  the  plow,  nor  a  cart- 
horse upon  a  race-track.  There  are  thoroughbreds 
and  there  are  cart-horses  among  teachers,  and  there 
are  places  for  both.  Only  a  broad  and  intimate 
knowledge  not  only  of  the  teacher  but  also  of  the 
school  will  enable  an  agency  to  determine  where 
the  fit  is  closest. 

For  instance,  there  are  differences  in  the  manage- 
ment of  schools  which  make  them  require  entirely 
different  teachers.  In  general  it  may  be  said  that 
schools  as  regards  assistants  are  under  three  kinds 
of  control. 


138  TEACHING    AS    A    BUSINESS 

There  are  schools,  not  so  many  of  them  as  could 
be  desired  but  still  a  good  many,  where  teachers 
and  pupils  have  so  long  worked  together  in  harmony 
and  good  fellowship  that  the  new  teacher  need  only 
be  an  accurate  scholar  with  the  manners  of  a  lady, 
to  find  herself  at  once  at  home,  with  little  other 
care  than  to  prepare  her  lessons  carefully  and  to  fit 
them  to  the  individual  pupils  of  her  class. 

In  another  kind  of  school  each  teacher  is  held 
entirely  responsible  for  her  own  class.  She  must 
take  the  pupils  as  they  come  to  her,  no  matter  what 
the  discipline  has  been  in  the  other  rooms,  and 
manage  them  in  her  own  way  without  calling  upon 
the  principal  for  help. 

There  are  still  other  schools,  and  schools  under 
principals  in  some  ways  strong  teachers,  where  it 
would  almost  seem  as  if  the  principal  took  delight 
in  making  difficulties  for  the  teacher, — as  if  it  grati- 
fied him  to  give  her  such  classes  or  to  surround  her 
teaching  with  such  conditions  that  necessarily  the 
best  of  her  care  must  be  given  to  the  discipline. 

Now  suppose  there  comes  to  an  agency  a  young 
woman  just  out  of  college  who  has  known  from  her 
babyhood  only  the  refinements  of  life,  whose  path 
has  always  been  made  easy  for  her,  who  has  hardly 


FITTING    TEACHERS    TO    PLACES  139 

heard  a  harsh  word,  and  who  if  a  principal  should 
speak  to  her  with  his  hat  on  would  flush  as  if  she 
had  been  slapped  in  the  face.  Suppose  such  a 
teacher  is  sent  to  a  school  where  the  principal  is 
rugged,  uncouth,  unsympathetic,  strong  in  his  way, 
but  accustomed  to  use  his  hands  as  fists.  Such  a 
teacher  will  wilt  under  him  like  a  lily  in  a  hail- 
storm. 

THE    QUESTION    OF    DISCIPLINE 

Take  for  instance  the  question  of  discipline.  This 
is  the  young  teacher's  great  test.  Her  first  term 
usually  determines  whether  or  not  she  will  rank 
among  the  successful.  Now  discipline  is  almost 
entirely  a  matter  of  the  point  of  view.  Schools  are 
like  horses.  If  a  horse  finds  himself  mounted  by  a 
man  whose  knees  take  tight  grip,  and  whose  hands 
holds  the  reins  lightly  but  firmly,  after  a  prance  or 
two  to  assure  itself  there  is  no  mistake,  it  is  satisfied 
that  its  rider  is  able  to  take  care  of  it  under  all 
emergencies  and  it  trusts  itself  to  him ;  but  if  the 
rider  has  to  get  near  a  horse-block  to  mount,  wob- 
bles about  after  he  gets  on,  yanks  at  the  reins, 
grasps  the  pommel  of  the  saddle,  and  acts  as  if  he 
expected  to  be  thrown  over  the  horses  head,  the  nag 
is  a  sorry  beast  if  it  disappoints  him. 


140  TEACHING    AS    A    BUSINESS 

Schools  like  horses  enjoy  an  acknowledged  master, 
but  they  want  to  be  sure  he  is  the  master.  When 
a  young  man  first  enters  the  school-room  it  is  neces- 
sarily for  him  something  of  an  experiment.  A 
wise  superintendent  will  give  him  a  hint  or  two 
beforehand,  will  keep  an  eye  upon  his  work  for  the 
first  few  days,  will  give  a  suggestion  here  and  there  ; 
and  if  there  is  really  anything  in  him  will  soon 
make  him  feel  so  much  at  home  that  the  experi- 
mental feature  disappears.  The  consciousness  comes 
to  him  that  he  is  master,  and  he  can  concentrate 
his  attention  upon  how  he  shall  exert  the  authority 
that  is  no  longer  questioned. 

If  I  may  transgress  upon  the  seriousness  of  the 
occasion  I  should  like  to  tell  a  little  story,  for  three 
reasons :  because  it  is  true  ;  because  it  illustrates 
what  I  am  saying  ;  and  because  it  is  a  joke  upon 
one  of  the  former  presidents  of  this  Institute. 

When  I  was  a  good  deal  younger  and  doing  some 
teaching  myself,  it  came  to  my  knowledge  that 
Isaac  N.  Carleton.  had  said  some  pleasant  things  of 
me  to  a  high  school  committee  looking  for  a  princi- 
pal, and  that  he  had  recommended  me  as  especially 
successful  in  discipline.  I  want  to  tell  you  how  he 
came  to  do  it. 


FITTING   TEACHERS    TO    PLACES  141 

When  Mr.  Carleton  was  principal  of  the  New 
Britain  normal  school,  a  teacher  of  sciences  was 
wanted  for  the  spring  term,  and  I  was  invited  to  go 
up  there.  The  work  was  principally  to  teach  chem- 
istry, but  the  place  carried  with  it  the  title  of  vice- 
principal.  This  was  of  little  consequence,  as  Mr. 
Carleton  managed  the  school,  and  as  in  fact  discipline 
was  little  in  evidence  ;  I  never  knew  a  school  where 
teachers  and  pupils  all  worked  together  in  more 
perfect  harmony. 

But  one  day  Mr.  Carleton  called  me  into  his 
office  and  said,  "  Mr.  Bardeen,  I  am  going  away  for 
four  or  five  days." 

I  said,  "  Yes,  sir." 

He  said  "  As  you  are  vice-principal  I  shall  leave 
the  school  in  your  charge  ". 

I  said,  "Yes,  sir." 

He  said  "  I  believe  everything  is  all  right,  except 
one  possibility.  Three  girls,"  and  he  named  them, 
"  have  asked  permission  to  go  to  a  party  at  Mr. 
Smith's  on  Monday  night.  I  have  refused  it,  but  I 
have  some  reason  to  think  that  they  intend  to  go. 
I  want  you  to  find  out  whether  they  go  or  not,  and 
if  they  go  to  discipline  them." 

I  said,  "  Yes;  sir," 


142  TEACHING    AS    A    BUSINESS 

Well,  I  just  hoped  those  girls  wouldn't  go.  They 
were  women-grown,  and  to  me,  barely  out  of  college, 
that  particular  embodiment  of  humanity  was  still 
formidable.  But  they  went,  and  Tuesday  was  a 
troublesome  day  for  me.  I  heard  my  classes  me- 
chanically with  this  problem  in  the  background — 
what  am  I  going  to  do  with  those  girls  ?  I  spent 
the  afternoon  getting  ready  my  experiments  for  the 
next  day,  and  acids  and  alkalis  and  retorts  were  all 
questioned  in  vain  as  to  what  I  should  do  with  those 
girls.  Finally  the  4  o'clock  bell  rang  for  prayers 
and  I  went  in  to  conduct  them  ;  still  I  did  not  know 
what  to  do  with  those  girls.  I  read  the  longest 
chapter  I  could  turn  to,  but  I  did  not  find  anything 
in  it  as  to  what  to  do  with  those  girls.  I  picked 
out  the  longest  hymn  and  had  every  stanza  sung, 
but  still  I  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  those 
girls.  When  the  singing  stopped  there  was  only  the 
Lord's  prayer  between  me  and  those  girls.  It  was 
customary  for  the  principal  to  lead  and  the  students 
to  join  in.  I  started  it,  still  my  thought  on  those 
girls ;  but  when  I  got  to  "  Give  us  this  day  our 
daily  bread  ",  to  my  dismay  I  could  not  remember 
what  came  next.  My  mind  had  so  wandered  that 
I  had  lost  the  connection,  and  a  most  painful  pause 


FITTING   TEACHERS    TO    PLACES  143 

followed.  Now,  I  could  be  cool  enough  to  go  back 
mentally  to  the  beginning  and  let  the  momentum 
carry  me  over  the  hummock  ;  but  then  I  was  too 
embarrassed  to  do  that,  and  it  seemed  half  an  hour 
that  the  school  waited.  Finally  I  reflected  that  the 
students  knew  the  prayer  if  I  did  not,  and  that  the 
moment  they  heard  my  voice  they  would  continue 
it ;  so  I  murmured  in  an  indistinct  tone,  "  Thine 
earthly  sabbath,  Lord,  we  love/'  and  the  school 
went  on,  "  Forgive  us  our  trespasses  as  we  forgive 
those  who  trespass  against  us." 

All  this  did  not  prepare  me  any  better  to  deal 
with  those  girls  ;  but  I  said  in  my  severest  tone  that 
Miss  so.  and  Miss  so,  and  Miss  so,  would  retire  to 
the  principal's  room.  Two  or  three  students  came 
up  to  the  desk  to  ask  questions  as  they  passed  out, 
and  I  detained  them  as  long  as  I  could  ;  but  finally 
the  room  was  vacant  and  I  had  to  face  those  girls. 
I  went  in  with  my  heart  in  my  heels,  but  to  my 
astonishment  they  were  in  tears.  I  straightened 
up.  One  of  them  said  : 

"  Mr.  Bardeen,  can  you  ever  forgive  us?  We  felt 
guilty  all  the  time  we  were  doing  it.  Everybody  in 
the  school  has  been  so  kind  to  us  that  it  was  a  shame 
to  be  anything  but  obedient.  If  Mr.  Carleton  had 


144  TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS 

stayed  we  should  not  have  thought  of  going.  Some- 
how when  he  went  away  we  felt  mischievous,  and 
rather  wanted  to  see  what  you  would  do  with  us. 
But  you  have  been  so  sad  and  solemn  all  day  that 
we  just  hated  ourselves,  and  when  in  the  Lord's 
prayer  you  made  that  impressive  pause  before  '  For- 
give us  .our  trespasses  as  we  forgive  those  who  tres- 
pass against  us  \  to  show  us  that  you  forgave  us,  we 
broke  right  down  ;  and  now  if  you  really  do  forgive 
us  we  will  apologize  to  Mr.  Carleton  when  he  comes 
back,  and  you  may  be  sure  you  will  never  have  any 
better  scholars  in  this  school. " 

That  was  the  only  case  of  discipline  I  had  under 
Mr.  Carleton,  and  it  was  my  success  in  dealing  with 
it  that  led  him  to  recommend  me  as  a  disciplinarian. 
I  suppose  it  must  go  on  record  as  a  somewhat  unique 
illustration  of  the  efficacy  of  prayer. 

When  accidents  like  these,  and  most  of  you  can 
give  similar  instances,  determine^  the  success  of  a 
teacher,  what  a  difference  it  makes  whether  his  first 
experience  is  under  a  kindly,  keen,  sympathetic 
superintendent,  or  under  a  man  whose  only  thought 
is  to  hold  him  to  his  work  and  judge  him  by  the 
mistakes  which  in  his  immaturity  he  is  sure  to 
commit. 


FITTING    TEACHERS    TO    PLACES  145 

THE    MODEL    SUPERINTENDENT 

There  are  superintendents,  all  of  us  know  some  of 
them,  who  are  an  inspiration  to  a  young  teacher, 
and  are  recognized  from  the  first  as  friends  ;  who 
are  watchful  and  ready  with  the  word  of  warning, 
but  who  give  it  so  gently  and  in  the  midst  of  so 
much  encouragement  that  it  is  wholly  helpful. 

Some  of  you  must  have  been  teachers  under  Col. 
Homer  B.  Sprague.  When  I  was  a  junior  in  college 
I  was  asked  to  go  up  to  Meriden  to  take  charge  of 
the  high  school  of  which  he  was  principal  while  he 
went  to  the  legislature  to  secure  the  re-establishment 
of  the  normal  school.  He  drew  $200  a  month  and 
paid  me  half  of  it,  and  all  he  did  was  to  sit  by  my 
chair  for  an  hour  or  two  on  three  Monday  morn- 
ings ;  yet  he  well  earned  his  half  of  the  salary. 
The  little  hints  he  gave  me  were  needed,  and  they 
came  in  such  a  kindly  way  that  they  encouraged. 
I  recollect  he  said  to  me  one  morning,  "Are  not 
those  two  girls  over  there  rather  noisy?  " 

I  said,  "  Yes,  but  it  is  just  physical  exuberance. 
There  is  not  a  bit  of  mischief  about  them.  They 
simply  bubble  over  when  they  are  near  each  other." 

•"  Why  don't  you  separate  them  ?  "  he  asked. 


146  TEACHING    AS    A    BUSINESS 

"  Why/'  I  said,  "  that  would  be  like  punishing 
them,  and  they  do  not  deserve  that." 

He  said,  "  Suppose  you  look  over  your  school; 
study  it  a  little  this  week,  see  what  other  instances 
there  are  where  the  fact  that  pupils  are  near  each 
other  is  a  disadvantage  to  both,  and  then  next  Mon- 
day reseat  the  whole  school." 

A  simple  thing  that  seems  to  you,  but  you  must 
remember  that  it  was  my  first  term.  I  reseated  the 
school  the  next  Monday  on  some  pretext,  and  the 
difference  was  marvellous.  It  was  like  Columbus's 
egg  on  end — easy  enough  after  you  know  how  ;  but  I 
might  have  taught  for  a  long  while  before  I  thought 
of  it.  It  had  not  occurred  to  me  that  the  pupils 
must  not  retain  the  seats  in  which  I  found  them 
when  I  took  the  school. 

Now  it  is  little  hints  like  that  given  in  such  a 
way  that  build  up  the  teacher.  Not  the  young 
woman  alone.  Many  a  young  man  out  of  college 
has  his  whole  future  determined  for  him  by  the 
kind  of  principal  he  teaches  under  the  first  term. 
He  may  go  where  everything  is  mechanical,  and 
fall  into  the  way  of  doing  his  work  by  the  week  so 
as  to  get  his  salary  at  the  end  of  the  month  ;  or  he 
may  go  where  the  spirit  of  the  school  is  so  earnest, 


FITTING   TEACHERS   TO    PLACES  147 

its  working  on  lines  so  broad,  that  he  feels  that  his 
work  is  a  vocation  worthy  to  call  forth  his  highest 
efforts.  This  is  the  kind  of  school  for  thorough- 
breds. When  these  possibilities  are  recognized  it 
does  not  seem  extravagant  to  say  that  our  most 
important  problem  is  fitting  teachers  to  places. 


NDEX 


PAGE  PAGE 

abounding  animal  spirits 83        behind-hand,  the  little 70 

advertising  teachers 101        beistigos  band 68 

age  of  teachers 84  best  way  of  securing  teachers  — 118 

agency  work  in  renting  houses..  107        Bibb,  Grace  C.,  q 91 

algebra  recitation 16        biliousness 81 

amateur  vs.  professional  work.. .  61        IJinney,  Horace.. 109 

American   Association    for    the  boards  of  education.. 33,  43,  46,  52,  72 

Supply  of  Teachers 109        Bonaparte,  Napoleon,  q 50 

Institute  of  Instruction 40        Bonner,  Robert 25 

Journal  of  Education  (IJarn-  books  on  education 99 

ard)  q 8:2,112        born  teachers 89 

Journal   of  Education    (;  t.  Bracket!,  Anna  C.,  q 68 

Louis)  q 68        Bridgewater  normal  school 102 

School  Institute 112,  113        bright  and  cheerful..... 135 

an  experience  in  discipline 141        Browning,  Robert 32 

Anderson,  Martin,  q 30        Buckham,  Henry  B.,  q 71 

Andover  Phillips  academy 18        Burchard,  Oscar  R 88 

Andrews,  N.  Lloyd 9,  32,  q.  76       business  men  compared 49,  55 

Anglo-Saxon  expressions 24        relations  of  the  teacher 69 

apparel 55,  81        vs.  profession 65 

applications  for  places. 104 

appointment  of  teachers 47,  54        calling  and  election 29,  44 

appreciation  of  other  teachers. 54,  74        Canning,  q 60 

Arnold,  Thomas Carleton,  Isaac  K 140 

11,  10,  19,  31,  59,  76,  78,  83        Century  magazine,  q 60 

art  of  education 68        certification  of  teachers 41 

Artemus  Ward,  q 10        changes  discouraged 123,  124 

artisan  vs.  artist 68        character C9,  100 

artistic  not  for  mere  gain 67         source  of  authority 7G 

asperity 83        characteristics  vs.  character 19 

Assistant    Masters'    association,  Chatham,  Lord 83 

London 115        cheerfulness 80,  81 

attire 71,  81        chess  vs.  checkers 64 

child  study 62 

baiting  the  hook 62        childlike  trust 76 

Barnard's  American  Jour.,  q.82,  1 12       "  chock  full  o'  soup  " 93 

(U9) 


150 


TEACHING    AS    A    BUSINESS 


PAGE  PAGE 

choosing  a  profession 37        description  of  a  teacher 126 

church  membership 21        development  of  the  child 43 

circular  letters  of  application 104        Dexter,  the  trotter 25 

civil  service  examinations 26       diamond-mining '. 120 

Clarke,  S.  M.,  q 48        Dickens,  Charles,  q 57 

clean  and  cheerful 77        dictatorialness 83 

clergymen  compared discipline 138 

34,  41,  42,  44,  101  a  question  of 139 

minister's  five-dollar  bill 70  an  experience  in. 141 

clothing 71,81        discrimination  in  employment 

Coleridge,  q 16  54,  63,64 

college  graduates 86        Douai,  Adolph,  q 50 

vs.  normal  graduates 87,  91        Draper,  Andrew  Sloan 11,  27,  33 

commercial  honor 69-74        draughts,  game  of 64 

commissions  of  teachers'    agen-  drawing  salaries 73 

cies 119        drifting  into  teaching 45 

Common  School  Journal  (X.  V.)  dynamic  force  essential 135 

q 112        dyspeptic  stomach 81 

comparison  with  other  callings 

bishops 48        early  breaking  down 80 

business-men 49,55        earnestness  in  life 78 

clergymen 34,  41,42,44,101        economy  of  good  teaching 56 

corporation  officers 51        edition  de  luxe 28 

lawyers 34,  39,  41,  42,  44,  49,        education  dynamical 59 

51,55,  101,  121  Education  (London),  q 115 

lecturers 61        educational  quack 33 

overseers 60        effect  of  poor  teaching 58 

physicians.. 33,  39,  41,  42,  44,  49, 101        efficacy  of  prayer 142 

competitive  examination 27        Eliot,  Charles  \V.,  q 54,59 

conceit  in  teachers 91         Emerson,  R.  W.,  q £9,  60,  73,  75 

congressman's  first  dinner 93        empiricism 32 

consideration  in  the  community.  40        employers  and  employed 45 

control  in  schools 137        encouraging  changes 125 

conversation 55        English  advertisements 103 

Cornell  university 90         certification 102 

corporation  officers  compared. . .  51        enthusiasm 78,  79,  80 

courage 80,  81         drained  away 53 

courtesy 82,  100        eunuchs,  intellectual 51 

Currie's  Common  School  Edura-  Evans,  C.  H.  <fc  Co.,  St.  Louis 113 

tion 99        Evarts,  Win.  M 55 

Curtis,  George  William 26        Everett,  Edward,  q 82 

examinations 63 

dead  school  a  good  school 29        examiners  of  teachers 41 

debtor  and  creditor 73  experience  as  an  element  of  sal- 
decrying  others 75              ary 86 


INDEX 


151 


PAGE  PAGE 

familiarity  with  girl-pupils 75        influence  upon  bad  children 59 

faults  of  candidates 124  information  vs.  recommendation 

—  of  »;reat  men 16,  133  agencies 114 

finger  nails  clean. ., 82        inspectors  of  academies 27 

Fitch's  Lectures  on  Teaching.. .  99        instruction  vs.  discipline 59 

flabby  heart 81        integer  vitae 73 

force 135        integrity 69 

fountain  of  youth 84        intellectual  eunuchs 51 

iron  hand  in  velvet  glove 30 

Gilmour,  Neil 98 

girl-pupils,  familiarity  with 75        Jacotot's  theory 52 

gown,  well-fitting 71        Johns  Hopkins  university 133 

Gough,  John  U.,  q 61        Johnson,  Samuel 83 

grappling  with  difficulties 30       joyous  disposition 81 

great  teachers  not  faultless 133        joys  of  teaching 46 

Greek  musician's  theory 57        Judge  Hilton's  park 22 

Grevy,  President,  fall  of 105       judges  compared 51 

growing  teachers 84 

keeping  one's  place 44 

Hall,  G.  Stanley,  q 40  Koch's  cure  for  consumption. ...  15 

Hamilton,  Gail,  q 44        Knott,  Eliphalet 77 

happy  school 81 

health .  77-81, 135        Lafayette,  General 12,  13 

hero  worship 15        Lambert,  W.  II.,  q 80,83 

high«-r  salaries 54        Latin  and  Greek., 87 

history  of  teachers'  agencies. . .  .109        Lawrence  academy,  Groton 16,  96 

Hope,  A.  R.,  q 74        lawyers  compared 

Hopkins,  Mark 11  34,  39,  41,  42,  44,  49,  51,55,101,  121 

horses,  not  harness 60       lecturer  compared 61 

Hoose,  James  II.,  q 41,  97       licenses  of  teachers 41 

Hughes,  James  L.,  q 79       life  tenure 63 

Hutchison,  Wm 16,96       limit  of  salaries 88 

Lincoln,  Abraham 13 

"  I  am  a  well-bred  man" 105       local  amateurs  in  education 35 

ideal  teacher 9  London  Journal  of  Education,  q.102 

immoral  teachers 137        Longfellow,  II.  W. ,  q 75,  84 

income  vs.  expenses 71        love  for  children 83 

independence 33        of  children  for  old  men 85 

—  of  the  teacher 72        Lowell,  James  Russell,  q 71 

Indiana  School  Journal,  q 49       Ludlow,  John 110 

indispensability  recognized 52 

individual  application 61        Macaulay,  q 62 

influence  of  courtesy 82        making  teachers  uneasy 121 

—  of  teachers 39        man  among  men 55 

—  of  the  pocketbook 71        of  capital 73 

on  the  pupil 43       of  the  one  talent 32 


152 


TEACHING   AS    A    BUSINESS 


PAGE  PAGE 

manhood 10,  51        Norwich,  Ct.,  free  academy 96 

manliness 135        not  how  much  but  where 64 

Mann,  Horace 102  —  what  but  who 60 

manner 55,82,100  number    6   hat    and    number   12 

with  girl-pupils 75  shoes 26 

masterful  men 29,  140 

masterly  inactivity 52  Ohio  Educational  Monthly,  q..41,  83 

Mears,  John  "VV.,  q 78        "one  stew" 20 

mental  discipline 90        Oswego  methods 92 

Mephistopheles  of  Coleridge 16        overseer  compared 60 

Meriden,  Ct.,  high  school 73,  145 

methods 92        Paris  house-hunting 107 

adapted,  not  adopted 62        Parker,  F.  W 99 

of  advertising 102        Pat  wanted  to  be  a  bishop 48 

Michigan  university 90        patience 80 

Milne.  Win.  J.,  as  a  nigger  min-  paying  bills  promptly 69 

strel 55          —  for  favors  done 107 

minimum  standard 27       for  placing  teachers 117 

monopoly. 83  Payne's  Lectures  on  Teaching. . .  99 

moral  supremacy 31        pedagogical  training 91 

morality  should  be  stalwart 31        pedagogy,  chairs  of 40 

Mr.  Wopsle's  great-aunt 57       Peirce,  Cyrus 102 

mushroom  agencies 120        pensioner  of  the  State 50 

pensions 49,  50,  54,  63 

National  Educational associati'n.  40  permanence  of  teachers  placed..  123 

Teachers'1  Monthly,  q 58        personal  influence 76 

neatness 81        personality  of  the  teacher 59 

nervous  prostration 81        Phillips  Academy,  Andover 18 

New  Britain,  Ct.,  normal  school.  141  Phoenix,  John,  idea  of  adjectives.  130 

New  England  Journal  of  Educa-  physical  deformity 127 

tion,  q 39,  50,54,80,  83        physicians  compared 

New  York  civil  service  commis-  33,  39,  41,  42,  44,  49,  101 

sion 28        playfulness  in  teachers 83 

Common  School  Journal,  q. .  112       pocketbook  well  filled 71 

legislative  committee,  q 57        policy 28 

/State  Educational  Journal . .  88       politeness 82 

State  Teachers'  Association,  position  without  magnitude 29 

15,  41,  78        positive  elements 31 

Teachers'  Advocate,  q 112       principals 77 

newspaper  advertising 102       and  assistants 138 

nice  persons 77        principles  of  education 125 

non-essentials  specified 19,  30  profession  of  teaching,  40,  41,  65,  97 

normal  diplomas 90,  97       professional  honor 74-77 

graduates 86,  89,  91  —  rank 40 

schools,  report  on,  q 57  — spirit 11 

vs.  college  graduates 87,91  — teacher's  attitude 62 


INDEX 


153 


professional  training 100 

work 67 

punctuation 23 

pursuit  of  usefulness 78 

"  Put  money  in  thy  purse  " 72 

quack  defined 33 

quarter's  salary  ahead 71 

queen's  row  in  teaching 65 

quick  perception 59 

sympathy 59 

Quick's  Educational  Reformers..  99 
Quincy  methods 92 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter 126 

ray  of  sunshine 135 

recitation,  faults  in 17 

recitations 44,  46 

regents  of  the  university...  19,  27,  32 

examinations 88 

religious  character 31 

reseating  pupils 145 

respectability  of  teachers 39 

rest  at  $3  a  night 53 

retiring  annuities 54 

rheumatism  and  small-pox 130 

Rich ter,  Jean  Paul,  q 62,  76 

Rousseau,  J.  J.,  q 85 

royal  and  empirical 32 

Ru^by  school 76 

salaries 38,  47,  56,  86,  95,  100 

savans  and  donkeys 50 

Srliormerhorn,  J.  W 112,  113 

Scholastic  and  Transfer  Agency. 203 

scholarship 31,  85,  100 

—  of  teachers 11 

school  a  man  or  a  woman 60 

Schoolmaster  (Chicago) ,  q 45,  48 

Scott,  Walter 83 

"  se  nubere  " 24 

self-conceit 54 

self-control , 80 

self-made  teachers 93 

sentimental  fondness 75 


sinecurists 63 

si/ing  up  the  teacher 131 

skilled  workmen 34 

slandering  other  teachers 75 

sluggish  liver 81 

Smith  college 90 

Smith,  Sydney,  q 77,«82 

social  position 39 

sound  character 135 

financial  basis 71 

source  of  authority 76 

specialties  of  the  scientist 14 

specification  of  non-essentials. . . 

19,30,  116,  130-135 

speech  of  four  words 105 

spelling  faulty 21 

Sprague,  Homer  B 73,  145 

square  pegs  in  square  holes 137 

Stanley,  Dean,  q 78 

State  certificates 19,  97,  98 

storehouse  of  information 136 

study  of  the  class 61 

success  proportioned  to  happi- 
ness   81 

sunshine  in  the  school-room 135 

superintendent  and  teachers 60 

— —  influence  of 144 

superintendent's  blanks 130 

supplanting  others 75,  117 

Sylvester,  Prof 133 

sympathy  with  boy  nature 59,  83 

system  in  France 60 

—  limit 61 

worship 60 

Syracuse  university. 90 

tact 28,  31 

Tate's  Philosophy  of  Education.  99 

Taylor,  Samuel  Harvey 18 

teacher  like  the  stomach 28,  101 

—  should  be  an  artist 68 

—  sure  of  a  living 38 

Teachers'  Advocate  (N.  Y.),  q ....  112 

teachers'  agencies,  history  of 109 

need  of 136 


154 


TEACHING    AS    A    BUSINESS 


PAGE 

teachers'  agencies,  work  of 106 

Teachers'  Guild  of  Great  Britain 

and  Ireland 103 

teachers  impractical 49 

not  by  choice 45 

teaching  as  a  profession 35 

— —  denned 63 

tern  per ....  80 

tenure  of  office 51,  54,  63,  64 

text-book  agents •. 106 

Thackeray,  Win.  M.,  q 71 

Thayer,  Gideon  F. ,  q 82 

third-class  talent 47 

Thompson,  C.  O.,  q 40 

thoroughbreds 137 

three  teachers  in  State  prisons. .  .137 

three-handed  men 70 

Thring,  Edward 11,  19,  q.  34 

Tillinghast,  Nicholas 102 

underbidding 75 

unfit  candidates 128 

Union  college 76 

United  States  school  agency 112 

University  convocation,  q 77 

unnecessary  changes 121 

upstairs  three  steps  at  a  time  —  83 


PAGE 
value  and  price 94,  97 

—  of  diamonds 95 

vanity 12 

Yassar  college 90 

vigor 135 

vigorous  mind  needed 59 

"  Virtue  has  gone  out  of  me  " 53 

Washington  board  of  education.  44 

Washington,  George 10,  13 

weak  points  of  teachers 125 

weed  defined 59 

Wellesley  college 90 

what  living  involves 38 

Whitehall  union  school 46 

Wilcox,  E.  H 112 

Willard,  Emma 11-15 

Wines,  E.  C 110 

women  college  graduates 90 

teachers 89 

work  for  everyone 78 

young  teachers 146 

youth 84 

—  in  teaching 48,  63 

Zealand  enthusiasm 79 


ADVERTISEMENTS 


School  Bulletin  Teachers'  Agency 

NOT  ONE  desirable  place  in  fifty  is  filled  now-ji.-da.ys  except  directly  or 
indirectly  through  the  medium  of  a  Teachers'  Agency.  Nearly  all  teachers 
holding  responsible  positions  are  themselves  enrolled  in  some  Agency  and 
give  their  Agency  immediate  information  of  prospective  changes.  Hence 
an  outside  teacher  has  no  chance  to  learn  of  vacancies.  Before  he  hears  of 
them  they  have  been  filled  by  candidates  notified  by  the  Agency.  A  pro- 
gressive teacher  could  afford  the  annual  fee  for  enrolment  for  the  informa- 
tion alone.  He  might  not  care  to  use  it,  but  it  is  worth  two  dollars  a  year 
to  be  sure  he  has  missed  no  opportunities  he  would  like  to  know  of. 

We  happen  to  know  as  we  write  that  a  man  now  principal  of  a  $1600 
school  will  soon  be  appointed  teacher  in  a  normal  school.  We  are  pretty 
sure  that  a  man  now  getting  $1400  will  have  the  $1600  place.  If  he  gets  it 
we  have  our  eye  on  another  man  now  getting  $1100  who  will  be  glad  of  the 
$1400  place:  in  every  case  because  these  men  are  especially  fitted  for  these 
places  and  desirous  of  them.  All  this  in  January.  No\y  next  June  some 
principal  who  saves  his  two  dollars  by  not  registering  in  an  Agency  will 
read  in  the  morning  newspaper  that  Principal  So-and-so  has  been  appoint- 
ed to  such  a  chair  in  such  a  normal  school,  and  will  pack  his  valise,  take 
the  train,  and  hurry  off  to  Principal  So-and-so's  present  place  to  apply  for 
his  position  before  anyone  else  gets  there.  It  will  surprise  him  to  learn 
that  the  vacancy  was  provided  for  six  months  before.  He  has  saved  his 
two  dollars  registration  fee,  but  he  has  lost  his  time,  his  car-fare,  and 
whatever  chance  he  stood  of  the  place. 

THE  BEST  AGENCIES,  however,  do  not  depend  on  information  alone.  By 
repeated  successes,  by  fair  dealing,  and  through  the  influence  of  the  teach- 
ers they  have  placed,  they  have  won  the  confidence  of  many  school  boards 
and  employing  principals.  There  are  hundreds  of  schools  that  systemati- 
cally engage  all  their  teachers  through  an  agency  and  will  not  consider 
applications  from  any  other  source. 

One  year  we  sent  Principal  Poland,  now  assistant  superintendent  in 
New  York  city,  to  the  Jersey  City  high  school  at  $2500:  that  left  a  vacancy 
at  Ilion  ^yhich  we  filled  by  sending  Principal  Winne,  now  of  the  Pough- 
keepsie  high  school,  at  $1600:  that  left  a  vacancy  at  Canastota  which  we 
filled  by  sending  Principal  Ottaway  at  $1200;  that  left  a  vacancy  at  Amster- 


dam Academy,  and  so  on. 


keep  its  eye  on  you  for  the  next  fit.     Try  it. 


IT  is  IMPORTANT,  however,  not  only  to  register,  but  to  register  in  the 
Agency  most  likely  to  help  you.  Without  reflection  upon  others  it  may  be 
said  with  confidence  that  the  School  Bulletin  Agency  is  safe  and  trust- 
worthy. Aaron  Gove,  superintendent  of  schools  in  Denver,  Colo.,  and  late 
president  of  the  National  Teachers1  Association,  said  in  the  Colorado 
School  Journal  for  July,  1890: 

"  The  School  Bulletin,  edited,  owned,  and  conducted  by  C.  W.  Bardeen, 
at  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  is  an  old  and  reliable  school  journal.  Its  proprietor  is  a 

school  man  and  understands  his  business He  is  also  at  the  head  of  an 

educational  bureau As  at  present  advised,  we  are  suspicious  of  bureaus 

unless  we  knoiv  the  man  at  the  head."1 

"  The  man  at  the  head  "  of  the  School  Bulletin  Agency  makes  personal 
selection  of  every  teacher  recommended.  Send  for  circulars. 


-THE  SCHOOL  BULLETIN  TEACHERS'  AGENCY.- 


Positions  for  Women  Teachers. 

The  advance  in  the  salaries  of  superior  women  teachers  has  been  of 
late  years  remarkable.  Prof.  Payne,  of  Vanderbilt  University,  wrote  to  us 
in  1890  for  a  primary  teacher  at  $1,200,  with  no  duties  outside  of  simply 
teaching  a  primary  class  three  hours  a  day.  In  1894,  we  were  asked  to  find 
a  woman  as  college  president  at  salary  reaching  to  $10,000.  The  difficulty  is 
not  to  find  such  places:  it  is  to  find  the  women  who  are  sure  to  succeed  in 
such  places.  Some  of  the  places  for  women  we  have  filled  are  as  follows: 

At  $1,500. — Principal  High  School,  Des  Moines,  la. 

At  $1,400.— Milwaukee  Normal,  Wis. 

yl£  $.7,200.— Buffalo  Normal,  Syracuse,  N.  Y.;  Scranton,  Pa.;  Birming- 
ham, J./a.;  Davenport,/^.;  Moorhead  Normal,  Minn.;  Colorado  Springs,  Colo. 

At  $1,000,— Little  Falls,  Oneorita  Normal,  Saratoga  Springs,  Syracuse  [3], 
Utica  [2],  N.  Y.;  Birmingham,  Ala.;  Cedar  Falls  [2],  Marshalltown  [2],  State 
Agricultural  College,  la, ;  St.  Joseph [2],  Mo.;  Grand  Forks,  N.  D.;  Ouray[2], 
Colo.;  Helena,  Mont.;  Cheney  Normal  [2],  Wash. 

At  $900.—  Auburn,  N.  Y.;  Plymouth  Normal,  N.  H.;  Florence,  Ala.; 
Baton  Rouge,  La.;  West  Des  Moines,  la.;  Winona  Normal,  Minn.;  Em- 
poria  Normal,  Ks.;  Omaha,  Peru  Normal,  Neb.;  Grand  Forks,  Mayville, 
N.  D.;  Colorado  Springs,  Pueblo,  Colo.;  Napa,  Cal. 

At  $800.—  Auburn,  Binghamton,  Elmira,  Garden  City,  Gouverneur, 
Kingston,  Newburg  [2],  New  Rochelle  [2],  Norwich,  Potsdam  Normal, 
Poughkeepsie,  Syracuse  [2],  Waverly,  N.  Y.;  Bennington,  Vt.;  New  Haven 
[2],  Ct.;  Florence  [3],  Ala.;  Campbell,  Texas;  Clinton  [2],  Decorah,  Coates 
College,  la.;  Whitewater,  Wis.;  St.  Cloud,  St.  Peter,  Minn.;  Grand  Junc- 
tion, Ouray,  Pueblo  [3],  Colo. 

At  $700.—  Amsterdam  Ac.,  Batavia  [3],  Catskill,  Dunkirk  [4],  Ellenville, 
Elmira,  Fort  Plain,  Hornellsville,  Ithaca,  Jamestown,  Lyons,  Oneonta  Nor- 
mal [4],  Pittsburgh,  Pittsburgh  Normal,  Port  Jervis,  Saratoga  Springs, 
Watkins,  Yonkers,  N.  Y.;  Naugatuck,  South  Norwalk  [2],  Ct.;  Bradford, 
Erie,  Oil  City,  Shipp"ensburg  Normal,  Waverly  Youngstown,  Pa.;  Ishpen- 
ning,  Mich.;  Normal  [2],  III.;  St.  Cloud,  St.  Peter,  Minn.;  Lincoln  [2],  Neb.; 
Madison,  Yankton,  S.  D.;  Fort  Collins,  Ks.;  Takoma,  Wash. 

At  $600.— Besides  more  than  70  places  in  New  York,  Deering,  Me.;  Ben- 
nington, Vt.;  Providence  Normal,  E.  I.;  Hartford,  Norwalk,  Ct.;  East 
Orange  [2J,  New  Brunswick,  N.J.;  Erie,  Warren,  Pa.;  Marietta  [2],  Ga.; 
Florence  [5],  Ala.;  Owensboro,  Ky.;  Youngstown,  0.;  Adrian,  Mich.; 
Jacksonville,  III.;  Marshalltown,  la.;  Fergus  Falls,  Menominee,  St.  Cloud, 
St.  ivt.er,  Minn.;  Portage,  Wis.;  Lincoln  [3],  Neb.;  Wessington  Springs, 
Yankton  [6],  S.  D.;  Meeker,  Colo.;  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah;  etc.,  etc. 

Who  get  these  places  ?  Born  teachers,  whether  or  not  they  are  nofmal 
or  college  graduates.  Our  standard  of  estimate  is,  "First  a  true  woman, 
then  a  ld<ly,  then  as  much  more  as  we  can  get." 

C.  W.  BARDEEN,  Proprietor,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 


-THE  SCHOOL  BULLETIN  TEACHERS'  AGENCY.- 


New  York  Principalships. 

Whether  this  Agency  is  trustworthy  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  it 
has  filled  the  following  New  York  principalships,  with  aggregate  salaries 
exceeding  $400,000. 

Adams,  Alexander  [2],  Amenia/Stem.,  Amsterdam  Ac.,  Andes  [6],  Andover, 
Apalachin  [2],  Apulia,  Attica,  Auburn,  [2,  $1,200  and  $2,OOOJ,  Ausable  Forks. 

Bainbridge,  Baldwinsville  [3],  Batavia  [Inst.  for  the  Blind],  Bayville, 
Belfast,  Binghamton  [3],  Bouckville,  Brasher  Falls  [2],  Brookfield  [3J. 

Cambridge  [2],  Camillus,  Canajoharie,  Canandaigua,  [Union  School, 
$1,700,  Academy,  $2,000],  Canastota,  Canisteo  [2],  Canoga  [2],  Cape  Vincent, 
Carthage,  Castile,  Catskill  [2],  Cattaraugus  [2],  Cayuga,  Champlain,  Chat- 
ham, Chester,  Chittenango  [2],  Churchville,  Cicero,  Cincinnatus  Ac.  [2], 
Clayville  [2],  Clarence,  Collins  Centre  [5],  Constableville,  Cooper's  Plains 
[2],  Corinth,  Corning  [3],  Cortland  Normal  [$2,800],  Craigsville,  Crown 
Point  [2]. 

Dansville,  De  Ruyter,  Dolgeville  [3],  Deposit  [3]  Dundee  [4],  Dunkirk. 

East  Bloomfield,  East  Randolph,  East  Springfield  vie.  [5],  East  Syracuse. 
Elbridge,  Elizabethtown,  Ellenvilie,  Elmira  [4],  Fabius,  Fairfield  Sem.,  Fair 


Haven,  Fairport,  Farmingdale,  Fayetteville[2],  Fort  Edward,  Friendship  Ac. 

Geddes,  Ghent,  Gilbertville^Lc.  [ 
Good  Ground,  Granville  [3],  Great  Ne 

Hamburg,  Hammond  [2],  Hammoi 
ton,  Homer,  Hudson,  Ilion,Islip,  Ives  Sem.  [2],  Jamesville  [2],  Jasper [2],  J or- 


Geddes,  Ghent,  Gilbertville^.  [2],  Gloversville  [3,  $800,  $1,300,  $2,000], 
t  Neck,  Greenville  Ac.,  Groton,  Guilford. 


Hamburg,  Hammond  [2],  Hammondsport,  Henrietta  [2],  Hermon,  Heuvel- 
.._!,  Homer,  Hudson,  Ilion,Islip,  Ives  Sem.  [2],.Tamesville  [2],  Jasper [2],  Jor- 
dan, Jordanville  [4],  Keeseville,  Kenwood  [3],  Kingston  [2, $2,500],  Kyserike. 


Lafayette  [2],  Lansingburgh,  Lawrenceville  Ac.  [2],  Le  Roy,  Little  Falls 
[2],  Little  Neck,  Liverpool  [2],  Locke,  Lockport  [2],  Lodi,  Lowville,  Ly- 
sander  [2]. 

Madison,  Madrid,  Malone,  Manlius  [2],  Manlius  Station  [2],  Mannsville, 
Marathon,  Margaretville,  Marion  [2],  Massena,  Maryland,  Matteawan,  May- 
ville  [2],  McGrawville,  Medina,  Middletown  [3],  Mohawk  [2],  Mooers  [3], 
Moravia,  Morrisville,  Munnsville. 

Napanoch  [2],  Naples,  Narrowsburg,  Newark  [2],  New  Berlin  [2],  New 
Paltz,  Newport,  Nichols,  North  port  [2],  North  Easton,  Nunda,  Ogdensburg, 
Olean,  Onondaga  Valley  [2],  Oriskany,  Ovid  [2],  Owego,  Oxford. 

Painted  Post  [2],  Palmer  Falls,  Palmyra,  Parish,  Patterson,  Pawling. 
Penn  Van,  Peterboro  [4],  Philmont,  Phoenix,  Pompey  Ac.  [5],  Port  Jervis 
[3],  Port  Henry,  Port  Leyden  [2],  Portville,  Potsdam  Normal  [$2,800]. 
Poughkeepsie  [2],  Pulaski  [2]. 

Red  Creek,  Remsen  [31,  Rensselaerville  Ac.  [4],  Richfield  Springs  [2], 
Richmond  Hill,  Richmondville,  Rochester  Industrial  School,  Rome  [3]. 

Sagapanock,  St.  Johnsville  [3],  Salamanca  [3],  Salem,  Sandy  Creek  [2], 
Saratoga  Springs  [8].  Saugerties,  Sauquoit  Ac.,  Savannah  [2],  Sherburne  [2j. 
Sherrill,  Sidney,  Silver  Creek  [2],  Sinclairville,  Smithville,  Smyrna  [2],  Sus- 
pension Bridge,  So.  Glens  Falls  [2],  So.  New  Berlin  [2].  Spencertown  [2], 
Stamford,  Syracuse  [3]. 

Ticonderoga  [2],  Tioga  Centre,  Tonawanda  [3],  Trumansburg,  Tucka- 
hoe  [2],  Troy,  Tully  [2].  Unadilla,  Union  [2],  Utica  [2]. 

Walden,  Walton,  Wai  worth  Ac.,  Warrensburg  [2],  Warsaw,  Warwick, 


town,  Williamsville,  Wolcott  [2],  Wyoming  [2]. 

C.  W.  BARDEEN,  Proprietor,  Syracuse,  N,  Y. 


-THE  SCHOOL  BULLETIN  TEACHERS'  AGENCY.- 


Positions  obtained  for  Men. 

Besides  the  New  York  Principalships  elsewhere  named,  here  are  some 
other  specimen  positions  obtained  by  men  through  this  Agency. 

At  $4,000.— Headmaster,  St.  Paul's  School,  Garden  City,  N.  Y. 

At  $3,500.—  Sup' t,  Jersey  City,  N.  J. 

At  $3,000.— Principals,  State  Normal,  Providence,  R.  L;  Blairstown,  N.  J.; 
Superintendent,  Lincoln,  Neb, 

At  $2,700.—  Assistant  Superintendent,  Cleveland.  0. 

At  #2,500.—  Prin.  High  School,  Jersey  City,  Sup't,  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.; 
Sup't,  Blind  Asylum,  Raleigh,  N.  C.;  President,  Normal  Institute,  Lincoln, 
Neb. 

A  t  $2,000.  —Principals,  State  Normal,  Peru,  Neb.;  High  School,  Leaven- 
worth.  Ks.;  Assistants,  Brooklyn  Boys'  High  School  [3]:  Albany  Normal: 
President,  Coates  College,  la.;  Principal,  Preparatory  Dep't,  Univ.  of  Colo.; 
Lecturer,  University  Extension,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

At  $1,800.— Mathematics,  Newark,  N.  J.;  Principals,  Factoryville,  Pa.; 
Davenport,  la.;  Pueblo,  Colo.;  Sciences,  University  of  Deseret,  Utah. 

At  $1, 600.— Mathematics,  Sciences,  Oneonta  Normal,  N.  Y. 

At  $1,500.—  Sup'ts,  Norwich  Un.,  Vt.;  Liberia,  Africa;  Yankton  [2],  S.  D.; 
Principals,  Erie  Acad.,  Pa.;  Lincoln,  Neb.;  Methods,  Florence  Normal, 
Ala.;  Winona  Normal,  Minn.;  Mathematics,  Kalamazoo  College,  Mich.; 
Classics,  St.  Joseph  [2],  Mo.;  University  of  Deseret,  Utah;  Sciences,  Omaha, 
Neb.;  Methods,  Emporia  Normal,  Ks. 

At $1,400. — Sciences,  Cortland  Normal;  Classics,  Mathematics,  Potsdam 
Normal,  N.  Y.;  Principal,  Warren,  Pa.;  Music,  Coates  College,  la.;  Sup't, 
Hopkinsville,  Ky.;  Principal,  Hiawatha,  Ks.; 

At  $1,200.— Vice-principal,  Salamanca,  N.  Y.;  Principals,  New  Haven, 
Vt.;  Canton,  Oil  City,  Pa.\  Brackett,  Texas;  Decorah,  la.;  Fort  Lewis, 
Colo.;  Assistants,  Auburn,  Garden  City  [2],  N.  Y.;  Toledo  [2],  0.;  State 
Normal,  La.;  Covington  [4],  Ky.;  Faribault,  Minn.;  Peru  Normal,  Univ.  of 
Neb.,  Neb.;  Pueblo,  Colo. 

At  $1,000. — Assistants,  Oneonta  Normal  [4],  Newburg  [2],  N.  Y.;  East 
Orange,  N.  J.;  Shamokin,  Mansfield  Normal,  Pa.;  Fredericksburg,  Va.; 
Lake  Forest,  III.;  Des  Moines,  la.;  Principals,  Hawley,  Oil  City  [2],  Pa. : 
Talladega,  Ala.;  Straight  University,  La.;  Somerset  [2],  Ky.;  Highland 
Park  Col.,  la.;  Lincoln,  Neb.;  Ouray,  Meeker,  Colo. 

At $900.— Principals,  Rowayton,  Ct.;  Weehawken,  N.  J.;  Tuscola,  111.; 
Assistants,  Brooklyn  Polytechnic;  Binghamton,  N.  Y.;  Blairstown,  N.  J.; 
Des  Moines,  la.;  Sweet  Springs,  Mo.;  Spokane  Falls  University,  Wash. 

At  $800.—  Assistants,  Auburn,  Cook  Academy[2],  Dolgeville  [2],  Fairfield 
Seminary,  Gouverneur,  Malone,  Polytechnic  Institute,  Brooklyn,  Pulaski 
Academy,  N.  Y.;  Northfield,  Vt.;  East  Orange,  Highlands,  Patterson,  Rut- 
gers Grammar  School,  N.  J.;  Princeton,  Ind.;  Des  Moines,  la.;  Menomi- 
ne<»,  Wis.;  Canon  City,  Colo.;  Principals,  Highlands,  N.  J.;  Youngsville,  Pa.; 
Perry,  0.;  Apalachicola,  Fla. 

At  $700. — Assistants,  Aurora  Academy  [4],  Canandaigua  Acad.  [6],  Cats- 
kill  [2],  Clinton  Liberal  Institute,  Cornwall  Military  Institute,  Delaware  Lit- 
erary Institute,  Elmira  Free  Acad.,  Lansingburgh  Acad.,  Lowville  Acad,  [2]. 
Malone,  Penn  Van,  St.  John's  Acad.,  Maiilius,  Mechanics  villa  Acad., 
Owego,  Tonawanda,  Utica,  N.  Y.;  Burlington,  Northfield,  Vt.;  New  Provi- 
dence, N.  J.;  Bradford,  Pa.;  Russelville,  Ala.;  Manchester  [2],  Vt,;  For- 
tress Monroe  [21,  Va.;  Searcy  College,  Ark.;  Brackett,  Texas;  Sweet  Springs, 
Mo.;  Clinton  [3],  la.;  Detroit,  Michigamme,  Midi.;  Nebraska  City,  Neb,; 
Lyndon,  Wash.;  Principals,  Fairfax,  Poultney  [2],  Vt. 

C.  W.  BARDEEN,  Proprietor,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 


-TUB  SCHOOL  BULLETIN* PUBLICATION'S.- 


The  School  Bulletin 

AND  NEW  YORK  STATE  EDUCATIONAL  JOURNAL, 

Established  1874.     24  pages,  9  x  14.     $1 . 00  a  year. 

The  School  Bulletin  is  one  of  the  five  oldest  educational  journals  in 
America,  and  the  only  one  of  them  that  has  been  under  the  same  ownership 
a  nd  management  from  the  beginning.  It  was  the  only  American  School  jour- 
nal which  received  the  gold  medal  at  the  Paris  Exposition  of  1889,  and  it 
received  the  highest  award  offered  at  the  Chicago  Exposition  of  1893,  the  di- 
ploma pronouncing  it  "of  the  greatest  interest  and  historical  value  to 
educators  of  all  grades  ".  It  is  not  filled  with  "  methods  "  and  spoon-food 
for  young  teachers  who  want  their  ideas  ready-made,  but  appeals  to  super- 
tendents,  principals,  and  all  teachers  who  regard  their  work  as  a  vocation, 
and  who  want  to  look  upon  it  broadly  and  comprehensively. 

In  the  feature  of  educational  news  it  has  never  had  a  rival.  Its  chroni- 
cles of  what  has  happened  in  New  York  schools  since  its  establishment  are 
unmatched  in  educational  literature,  and  it  has  taken  note  of  whatever  has 
happened  in  other  States  that  involved  general  principles. 

Its  Current  Topics  give  a  chronicle  of  what  occured  during  the  preced- 
ing month  with  forcible  terseness,  and  in  a  perspective  that  bring  the  im- 
portant events  clearly  to  the  front,  adding  maps  wherever  necessary.  For 
the  instruction  of  classes  in  this  branch,  now  commonly  recognized  as  essen- 
tial, and  for  preparation  of  teachers'  examinations,  the  Current  Topics  as 
here  presented  have  been  declared  to  be  the  best  anywhere  to  be  found.  In 
New  York  they  are  of  especial  value  in  preparation  for  the  Uniform  Exam- 
inations, as  the  Bulletin  is  issued  every  month  of  the  year  (not  for  ten  months 
only),  at  such  a  date  that  it  will  reach  New  York  subscribers  just  before  the 
Uniform  Examination  of  the  month,  and  thus  present  the  news  fresh  and  up 
to  date. 

It  publishes  each  month  all  the  Uniform  Examination  questions  and  an- 
swers of  the  preceding  month,  with  all  the  illustrations  in  drawing  and 
other  subjects.  It  publishes  all  the  questions  given  at  the  examinations  for 
State  Certificates ;  all  the  circulars  and  legal  decisions  issued  by  the  De- 
partment of  Public  Instruction ;  and  has  indeed  two  Official  Departments 
edited  and  conducted  by  members  of  the  Department  of  Public  Instruction 
and  of  the  Regents,  respectively. 

It  is  therefore  primarily  an  educational  journal  for  New  York  teachers, 
and  is  meant  to  be  a  journal  no  New  York  teacher  can  afford  to  be  without. 
But  teachers  in  other  States  will  find  it  of  great  service,  both  for  the  intrin- 
sic value  of  its  contents,  and  for  the  vivid  picture  it  gives  of  educational 
progress  in  the  Empire  State. 

C.  W.  BARDEEN,  Publisher,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 


STAND A1U)  TEACHERS'  LIBRARY,  NO.  6 

Bardeen's  Roderick  Hume. 

The  Story  of  a  New  York  Teacher.  Pp.  319.  Cloth,  $1.25  ;  manilla,  50 
cts.  This  is  one  of  the  22  best  books  for  teachers  recommended  by  Chancel- 
lor W.  II.  Payne  in  the  New  England  Journal  of  Education  for  Nov.,  1893.  It 
is  also  one  of  the  books  described  by  W.  M.  Griswold  in  his  "  A  Descriptive 
List  of  Novels  and  Tales  dealing  with  American  Country  Life." 

Roderick  Hume  took  possession  of  me,  and  the  book  was  finished  in  one 
sitting  that  lasted  bey«.nd  the  smallest  hour.  I  have  joined  ths  crowd  in 
your  triumphal  procession.  The  characters  arc  as  truly  painted  as  any  in 
Dickens,  and  the  moral  is  something  that  cannot  be  dodged.— Professor 
h'dn'urd  North,  Hamilton  College. 

My  confinement  at  home  gave  me  an  opportunity  to  read  it  carefully, 
which  I  have  done  with  great  delight,  I  can  certify  that  it  is  true  to  life. 
I  have  had  experience  in  country  and  village  schools  as  well  as  in  the 
schools  of  the  cities.  The  picture  is  true  for  all  of  them.  I  know  too  well 
how  self-interest,  jealousy,  prejudice,  and  the  whole  host  of  meaner  mo- 
tives are  likely  to  prevail  in  the  management  of  school  affairs  anywhere. 
That  the  people  should  know  this  and  yet  entrust  the  management  of  their 
schools  to*  men  who  are  most  likely  to  be  influenced  by  personal  considera- 
tions is  strange  indeed.— My  memory  brings  to  mind  an  original  for  every 
portrait  you  have  drawn.— Andrew  J.  Eickoff,  former  Sup't  of  Schools,  Cleve- 
land, O. 

Teachers  cannot  fail  to  be  greatly  benefited  by  the  reading  of  the  book. 
Roderick's  address  to  his  pupils  is  a  compendium  of  the  best  points  in  the 
highest  kind  of  school  management.  Miss  Duzenberrie's  victory  and  Vic 
Blarston's  closing  remarks  ought  to  teach  lessons  of  warning  to  many 
teachers  who  are  even  the  most  in  earnest  about  their  work.  Mary  Lowe 
is  a  beautiful  model  of  a  teacher,  and  no  one  will  be  surprised  that  Roder- 
ick should  make  her  his  helpmate  instead  of  his  assistant.  It  is  a  capital 
story,  and  we  recommend  it  strongly  to  every  Canadian  teacher.  Each  one 
should  get  a  copy  for  himself,  as  he  will  wish  to  read  it  more  than  once. 
—Inspector  James  L.  Hughes,  in  Canadian  School  Journal. 

In  the  columns  of  The  Bulletin,  in  1878,  appeared  a  serial  story  which  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  educators  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  It  was  en- 
titled Roderick  Hume,  and  was  professedly  "  the  story  of  a  New  York  teach- 
er." It  was  written  with  the  specific  view  of  portraying  certain  phases  of 
the  modern  graded  school.  The  narrative  was  not  designed  as  a  satire, 
though  a  vein  of  humor  ran  through  it  all ;  nor  was  it  to  be  taken  as  an  au- 
tobiography, though  the  author's  own  experiences  were  more  or  less  inter- 
woven with  it.  The  interest  of  the  story  increased  from  month  to  month, 
and  widely  extended  the  reputation  of  The  School  Bulletin  and  its  editor. 
Letters  received  from  all  parts  of  the  country  revealed,  in  fact,  a  phe- 
nomenal interest  in  its  outcome.  *  *  *  Subsequently  it  appeared  in  book 
form,  and  it  has  since  held  a  unique  place  in  American  literature.— The 
Schoolmaster  in  Comedy  and  Satire,  p.  453. 

C.  W.  B AliDEEtf,  Publisher.  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 


-STANDARD   TEACHERS'  LIBRARY,  No.  30.- 


Bardeen's  Common  School  Law, 

The  revision  of  1896,  entirely  rewritten,  not  only  brings  this  standard 
text-book  up  to  date,  but  adds  much  new  matter,  including  a  chapter  on 
Rules  and  Regulations  and  the  relations  of  teachers  to  the  trustees  and  the 
superintendent.  It  is  based  on  the  New  York  consolidated  school  law  as 
amended  to  date,  but  it  gives  references  by  page  to  the  latest  editions  of  the 
laws  of  all  the  other  States  and  Territories  with  more  than  500  of  the  latest 
judicial  decisions  in  this  country  and  in  Europe.  For  .lormal  schools  and 
training  classes  the  book,  of  course,  is  indispensable;  and  since  School 
Law  is  one  of  the  subjects  required  in  uniform  examinations  in  New  York 
of  all  grades,  the  book  is  indispensable  to  teachers  here,  as  well  as  without 
rival  for  the  teachers  of  other  States. 

The  first  thing  a  teacher  wants  to  know  about  such  a  book  is  whether 
it  can  be  depended  upon.  The  highest  authority  in  the  country,  the  Har- 
vard Law  Review,  speaks  as  follows  in  the  number  for  December,  1896: 

"  This  admirable  book,  first  published  in  1875  and  for  twenty  years  the 
only  text-book  on  the  subject  for  general  use,  has  now  for  the  first  time 
been  entirely  rewritten.  In  its  present  form  it  is  of  general  interest,  and, 
it  would  seem,  of  practical  necessity  to  the  teacher.  Part  I,  which  has  to 
do  with  school  officers,  is  based  almost  entirely  on  New  York  law,  but  Part 
II,  which  relates  particularly  to  the  teacher,  is  a  safe  guide  throughout  the 
country  both  in  school  and  in  court.  *  *  *  The  author  cannot  be  too 
highly  commended  in  that  avoiding  the  common  error  of  trying  to  draw 
hard  and  fast  lines,  he  contents  himself  with  illustrating  by  copious  and  apt 
quotation  of  legal  decisions  the  various  views  possible  on  disputed  points, 
and  the  application  of  such  rules  as  admit  of  definite  statement." 

The  following  are  other  testimonials  from  standard  legal  authorities: 

It  seems  to  us  that  the  work  must  be  invaluable  to  trustees,  as  well  as 
teachers,  because  innumerable  questions  concerning  proper  school  rules, 
their  enforcement,  the  line  between  proper  and  improper  authority  on  the 
part  of  teachers,  the  subjects  of  punishment,  expulsion,  wages,  and  kindred 
topics,  are  gone  into. — New  Jersey  Law  Journal,  Oct.,  1896. 

The  book  contains  a  very  complete  tabular  analysis  of  its  contents,  as 
well  as  a  list  of  references  to  Superintendents'  Decisions  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  and  to  statutes  of  the  various  States.  It  will  undoubtedly  be  use- 
ful to  both  lawyers  and  teachers.— Am.  Law  Register  and  Review,  Oct.,  1896. 

This  compact  little  book  has  been  invaluable  to  the  teacher,  school 
officer  and  lawyer.  Of  the  new  edition  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  it  \vill  be 
even  more  useful  than  former  editions.—  Lancaster  Law  Review,  Aug.  3, 1896. 

The  decisions  of  the  courts  in  different  States  are  very  fully  noted  and 
cited.  The  book  will  prove  very  useful  to  the  lawyer,  as  well  as  a  work  of 
much  importance  to  the  school  officer  and  teacher. — American  Lawyer, 
Aug.,  1896. 

18mo,  pp.  276.     Cloth  $1.OO  ;  Manilla  SO  ets. 

C,  W,  B AKDEEN,  Publisher,  Syracuse,  N.  Y, 


-STANDARD  TEACHERS'  LIBRARY,  No.  3- 


Page's  Theory  and  Practice  of  Teaching. 

No  other  American  book  on  teaching  has  so  much  claim  as  this  to  be 
considered  a  classic.  For  nearly  fifty 
years  it  has  been  regarded  almost  uni- 
versally as  the  one  book  the  young 
teacher  would  most  profit  by.  A  hun- 
dred thousand  teachers  have  drawn 
help  and  inspiration  from  its  pages. 

It  seems  only  just  to  the  author  of  a 
work  so  successful  that  his  book  should 
be  printed  just  as  he  wrote  it.  The  day 
is  past  when  commentators  re-write 
Shakspere.  They  may  annotate  and 
explain  and  conjecture,  but  they  take 
the  text  as  they  find  it,  and  print  their 
observations  in  another  type.  This 
book  has  been  less  fortunate.  In  different  editions  since  Mr.  Page's  death 
chapters  have  been  added,  details  have  been  changed,  passages  have  been 
entirely  rewritten. 

This  volume  goes  back  to  the  book  that  Mr.  Page  published,  and  fol- 
lows word  for  word  the  text  of  the  only  edition  he  ever  authorized.  Where 
the  times  have  changed  and  we  in  them,  references  to  present  conditions 
are  given  in  the  notes  that  follow,  which  will  be  found  of  great  value  as 
illustrating  how  different  in  many  respects  is  the  environment  of  teaching 
now  from  what  it  was  half  a  century  ago,  while  yet  the  teacher's  difficul- 
ties are  largely  the  same,  and  his  failure  or  his  success  depends  upon  the 
same  fundamental  principles.  These  notes  are  also  in  some  part  explana- 
tory and  historical,  with  portraits  of  Page,  Mann,  Colburn,  Emerson,  Pot- 
ter, Wads  worth,  and  Olmsted.  There  are  also  a  biography  of  Mr.  Page  and 
a  full  topical  index  for  review. 

In  short  this  is  so  much  the  best  edition  issued,  that  even  those  who  al- 
ready have  another  edition  can  afford  to  throw  that  aside  and  use  this  alone. 
The  following  are  among  the  commendations  it  has  received  : 
"  This  work  has  so  long  been  recognized  as  one  of  the  great  educational 
classics  that  comment  here  is  unnecessary,  except  to  say  that  Mr.  Bar- 
cleen's  latest  edition  is  especially  well  printed  and  has  a  fine  full-page  por- 
trait of  its  great  author.— Art  Education.''1 

"  While  it  is  one  of  the  oldest  books  on  teaching  published  in  this  coun- 
try none  of  its  successors  surpass  it  in  its  high  ideal  of  the  teacher's  life 
and  work,  which  is  held  constantly  in  view.  The  true  spirit  of  the  teacher 
breathes  in  every  line,  and  it  is  a  continual  source  of  guidance  and  inspira- 
tion to  all  who  would  realize  the  most  fruitful  results  in  this  noble  and 
responsible  vocation.  It  should  be  the  first  book  studied  by  every  teacher, 
and  should  be  his  constant  companion  at  all  times."— School  Forum. 

C.  W.  BARDEEN,  Publisher,  Syracuse,  N.  Y, 


-STANDARD  TEACHERS'  LIBRARY,  No.  7- 


DeGrraff's  School-Room  Guide, 

What  there  is  in  Prof.  DeGrafTs  method  of  presentation  that  so  reaches 
and  holds  the  young  ;eaclier,  it  might 
be  hard  to  say  :  but  he  has  never  had 
his  equal  as  an  institute  instructor  in 
the  inspiration  he  gave  :  and  superin- 
tendents everywhere  agree  that  where 
other  books  are  bought  and  put  away, 
the  "School-Room  Guide"  is  bought 
and  kept  on  the  desk,  for  daily  use. 
Some  books  are  recommended  because 
it  is  creditable  to  own  them  ;  this  is 
recommended  by  those  who  know  it 
because  it  wil.1  help.  It  is  significant 
that  this  was  one  of  the  three  books 
selected  by  the  Examination  Hoard  of 
the  State  of  New  York  as  one  of  the  three  upon  which  all  Uniform  and 
State  Examinations  in  Methods  and  School  Economy  should  be  based  for 
the  year  1895,  and  that  it  was  unanimously  readopted  for  1896. 

It  is  just  what  its  name  implies,  a  real  guide  to  school-room  work. — 
Practical  Teacher. 

We  do  not  know  of  any  other  book  that  contains  so  much  help  for  a 
young  teacher,  or  an  old  one  for  that  matter,  as  this. —  Wis.  Journal  of 
Education. 

The  striking  point  in  the  work  is  the  practical  sense  of  it.  Showy 
methods  and  visionary  schemes  get  no  toleration  in  these  pages. — The 
Independent. 

We  cannot  say  too  much  in  praise  of  this  book.  It  contains  just  the 
very  hints  that  the  progressive  teacher  needs  every  day.  We  do  not  think 
that  a  teacher  who  loves  his  work  and  desires  to  excel  can  afford  to  do 
without  DeGrafT s  Guide.—  N.  O.  Teacher. 

It  is  not  a  mere  collection  of  rules  and  formulas  to  be  followed  implicit- 
ly and  automatically  by  every  teacher  alike,  but  is  rather  a  series  of  hints 
and  suggestions  well  calculated  to  assist  the  teacher  to  think  and  desire 
new  methods  for  himself  or  herself.  It  were  well  for  our  school:-;  if  this 
book  were  used  by  every  teacher.— Public  Opinion. 

This  volume  is  designed  to  be  a  practical  one.  It  contains  suggestions 
on  every  subject  that  comes  usually  within  the  work  of  the  common  school 
teacher.  It  discusses  the  various  methods  used  in  teaching  the  different 
subjects  and  presents  what  is  thought  to  be  the  best.  The  plan  u  ,ed  in 
treating  any  given  subject  is  to  give  an  introduction  followed  by  several 
lessons,  explicit  directions  as  to  what  is  to  be  done,  cautions  to  be  observed 
and  results  to  be  obtained.  It  is  just  such  a.  manual  as  every  teacher  needs. 
—Educational  Journal  of  Va. 

Complete  Index  just  added.    16mo,  pp.  405.     Manilla,  50  cts.,  Clolh,  $1.50 

C.  W.   BARDEEN,   Publisher,   Syracuse,  N.  Y, 


-STANDARD   TEACHERS'  LIBRARY,  No.  5.- 


Herbert  Spencer's  Education. 

There  is  perhaps  no  other  single  book  that  it  is  so  indispensable  for  a 
teacher  to  know  as  this.  Thus  Quick 
says  of  it,  in  his  "  Educational  Re- 
formers "  : 

"There  are  three  Englishmen  who 
have  written  so  well  that,  as  it  seems, 
they  will  be  read  by  English-speaking 
teachers  of  all  time.  These  are  As- 
cham,  Locke,  and  Herbert  Spencer.  If 
a  teacher  does  not  know  these  he  is  not 
likely  to  know  or  care  anything  about 
the  literature  of  education." 

Joseph  Payne  says,  in  his  "  Lec- 
tures "  : 

"  I  agree  with  Mr.  Quick  in  considering  it  one  of  the  most  important 
works  on  education  in  the  English  language.  I  strongly  recommend  any 
of  you  to  get  it,  and  to  read  it  with  all  possible  attention." 

Prof..S.  G.  Wrilliams  says,  in  his  "History  of  Modern  Education": 

"  But  of  all  that  has  been  written  in  English,  during  the  present  cen- 
tury, probably  no  pedagogic  treatise  has  attracted  more  wide-spread  atten- 
tion, or  has  exerted  more  influence  than  Herbert  Spencer's  'Education'. 
It  is  characterized  by  that  clearness  of  exposition  and  felicity  of  illustra- 
tion of  which  Mr.  Spencer  is  so  great  a  master  and  which  never  leaves  one 
in  doubt  as  to  his  opinions.  Of  all  the  pedagogic  works  of  the  century  that 
have  appeared  in  English,  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  a  brief  examination 
of  this  will  give  us  the  fairest  sample  of  the  nature  and  direction  of  peda- 
gogic thought." 

Gilbert  Compayre  says,  with  discrimination  : 

'•.Mr.  Spencer's  essay,  then  deserves  the  attention  of  educators.  There 
is  scarcely  a  book  in  which  a  clean  scent  for  details  comes  more  agreeably 
to  animate  a  fund  of  solid  arguments,  and  from  which  it  is  more  useful  to 
extract  the  substance.  However,  it  must  not  be  read  save  with  precaution. 
The  brilliant  English  thinker  sometimes  fails  in  justice  and  measure,  and 
his  bold  generalizations  need  to  be  tested  with  care." 

It  is  just  here  that  this  edition  differs  from  all  others.  It  gives  the  text. 
as  published,  intact,  with  side-heads,  and  a  Topical  Analysis  for  Reviews. 
But  it  adds  29  pages  of  notes,  giving,  with  references  to  the  text  by  page. 
the  chief  criticisms  of  Compayre,  Quick,  Joseph  Payne,  William  II.  Payne, 
and  S.  S.  Laurie,  thus  guarding  the  young  teacher  from  being  misled  by 
statements  often  too  positive  and  broad.  There  are  also  numerous  bio- 
graphical notes,  often  accompanied  by  portraits,  and  historical  notes  when 
required,  thus  making  the  book  one  of  the  best  illustrations  of  the  special 
plan  and  purpose  of  the  Standard  Teachers'  Library. 

16mo,  pp.  331.    In  Manilla  5O  cts.,  in  Cloth  Sl.OO. 

C.  W.  BAKOEEN,  Publisher,  Syracuse,  N.  Y, 


STANDARD  TEACHERS'  LIBRARY,  NO.  14. 

Rein's  Outlines  of  Pedagogics, 

This  is  a  translation  of  the  standard  German  text-book  of  the  Herbartian 
system,  and  is  the  only  complete  edition. 
The  present  discussion  over  this  system 
and  its  widening  adoption  make  this 
book  an  absolute  necessity  to  the 
teacher.  Note  some  commendations: 
"If  we  mistake  not,  this  work  will 
do  more  for  Herbart  in  America  than 
anything  that  has  hitherto  appeared. 
It  is  clear,  as  translated  Herbart  has 
not  always  been  ;  it  is  inspiring  as  few 
translations  of  modern  German  peda- 
gogics have  been.  Few  recent  profes- 
sional books  deserve  so  universal  an 
American  reading/'— N.  E.  J.  of  Ed'n. 
"  The  German  original  of  this  book  was  noticed  in  the  Educational  Review 
for  April,  1891,  and  a  very  favorable  judgment  passed  upon  it.  In  its  English 
dress  it  is  heartily  welcome.  The  translation  is  remarkably  good,  the 
difficult  subject  of  technical  educational  terms  being  handled  with  especial 
skill.  Mr.  Van  Liew  has  also  done  wisely  in  including  in  his  version  the 
portions  of  the  first  edition  of  the  original  that  were  omitted,  largely  from 
considerations  of  space,  in  Dr.  Rein's  own  revised  edition. 

"  The  translator's  notes  are  also  helpful.  He  is  particularly  happy  in  his 
discussions,  from  the  English  and  American  point  of  view,  of  concentration 
and  co-ordination  (pp.  110,  135),  and  of  the  formal  steps  of  instruction  (pp. 
146,  157).  These  notes  will  help  the  American  teacher  to  a  clear  under- 
standing of  the  essential  points  in  the  Herbartian  practice. 

"  Persons  desiring  to  purchase  this  book  should  bear  in  mind  that  the  edition 
under  notice  is  the  authorized  one,  being  brought  out  in  this  country  by 
arrangement  with  the  English  publishers.  This  warning  is  necessary,  as  a 
firm  of  guerilla  publishers,  ivhose  high  notions  of  morality  in  education  do 
not  appear  to  find  application  in  the  field  of  business,  are  advertising  a 
reprint  which  is  both  mutilated  and  pirated,  though  owing  to  the  unfortunate 
condition,  of  our  copy riglit  law  they  cannot  be  prosecuted.'1'' — Prof.  Nicholas 
Murray  Butler,  in  Educational  Review,  Jan.,  1894. 

"  Although  the  volume  has  become  familiar  to  the  educational  public,  I 
wish  to  express  my  appreciation  at  the  appearance  in  English  of  this  most 
worthy  volume.  As  is  claimed,  it  forms  the  best  introduction  to  Herbartian 
doctrines  which  has  yet  come  into  my  hands.  The  insight  of  Dr.  Rein  is 
penetrating,  while  the  lucidity  of  his  pen  puts  him  in  easy  communication 
with  tin;  reader.  Indeed,  the  author  is  clear  in  his  exposition  of  Herbart, 
and  sound  in  the  few  advances  which  he  ventures  beyond  the  master. — 
Prof.  Elward  F.  Buchner,  Yale  University. 

16mo,  pp.  332,    Cloth,  81.25  ;  Manilla,  5O  cts. 

C.  W.  BARDEEN,  Publisher,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 


-THE  SCHOOL  BULLETIN  PUBLICATIONS.- 


Huntington's  Unconscious  Tuition, 

This  is  without  question  the  most 
remarkable  address  upon  teaching 
ever  written  in  America.  Delivered 
years  ago  before  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Instruction,  it  has  been  re- 
printed again  and  again,  and  has 
brought  help  and  inspiration  to  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  teachers.  From 
a  multitude  of  testimonials  we  select 
the  following  : 

"  I  heard  the  lecture  when  first  given, 
have  read  it  several  times,  and  have 
given  away  a  good  many  copies.  I 
wish  every  teacher  in  the  land  could 
read  it  and  take  in  its  spirit." — Charles 

Hutchins,  Agent  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions. 
We  may  add  that  this  Board  has  purchased  and  sent  out  to  the  mission- 
aries all  over  the  world  more  than  a  thousand  copies,  and  we  have  fre- 
quently printed  grateful  letters  from  these  missionaries  expressing  the  de- 
light and  help  it  gave  them. 

"  I  have  had  it  in  mind  for  a  long  time  to  write  you  a  few  words  in 
regard  to  '  Unconscious  Tuition '  by  Huntington.  I  wish  something  might 
be  done  to  bring  it  to  the  knowledge  of  teachers  everywhere.  It  is  the  first 
book  to  put  into  the  hands,  head,  and  heart  of  every  young  teacher.  I  know 
of  no  gift  of  equal  value  to  bestow  upon  a  young  person  undertaking  the 
instruction  of  little  children."— A.  E.  Frye,  Hyde  Park,  Mass. 

"We  give  much  of  our  space  this  month  to  Dr.  Huntington's  grand 
classic.  There  is  probably  nothing  finer  in  the  whole  range  of  pedagogic 
literature.  We  trust  everyone  will  read  it,  and  we  are  sure  that  many  will 
read  it  more  than  once." — Ohio  Educational  Monthly. 

"  Surely  it  is  a  masterpiece.  Sometimes  when  reading  or  hearing  lec- 
tures on  our  obligations  as  teachers  I  have  felt  like  crying  out  in  despair: 
'Lay  no  more  burdens  upon  us!  Are  we  not  already  crushed  beneath  the 
weight  of  responsibility!  '  But  this  paper,  while  it  reveals  with  singular 
vividness  the  duty  resting  upon  us,  yet  carries  with  it  such  a  healthful  and 
strengthening  power  that  it  inspires  determination  and  hope.  It  presents 
a  most  exalted  ideal,  and  neglects  not  to  speak  of  the  means  by  which  it  is 
attained.  It  brings  commendation  and  hope  to  the  few  who  are  worthy, 
und  has  also  a  word  of  encouragement  for  the  most  of  us  who  have  made 
as  yet  little  progress.  Such  words  stir  the  soul  to  its  depths  with  its  un- 
voiced thoughts  which  breathe  forth  a  holy,  sacred  influence  that  is  uplifting 
and  purifying.  At  such  times  our  eyes  are  opened  and  we  see  more  clearly 
than  ever  before  that  character  is  the  one  thing  that  shall  endure."—^.  M. 
2V.,  in  Ohio  Educational  Monthly. 

Paper,  16mo,  pp.  45,  15  cts.  Also  the  second  of  four  monographs  in 
"The  Teacher's  Mentor",  cloth,  pp.  274,  $1.00. 

C.  W.  BARDEEN,  Publisher,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 


-STAND All!)  TEACHERS  Lin  R  Alt  Y,  No.  85- 


Quick's  Educational  Reformers, 

Its  vivacious  style  makes  this  the  most  entertaining  of  books  for 
teachers.  Dr.  Win.  T.  Harris  says  :  "I 
have  called  this  book  of  Mr.  Quick  the 
most  valuable  history  of  education  in 
our  mother-tongue."  We  are  glad  to 
present  it  in  new  dress,  worthy  of  its 
merits. 

This  new  edition  is  a  careful  reprint 
of  the  original  London  edition  with  the 
following  additions: 

(1)  Mr.  Quick's  Pedagogical  Auto- 
biography, written  for  the  Educational 
fieview,  and  used  here  by  permission. 

(2)  The  chapter  on  Froebel,  written 
by  Mr.  Quick  for  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica. 

(3)  Portraits,  including  the  following: 

Arnold  Goethe  Montaigne 

Ascham  Jacotot  Pestalozzi 

Basedow  Kant  Quick 

Colet  Lavater  Rousseau 

Comenius  Locke  Spencer 

Fellenburg  Loyola  Sturm 

Froebel  Milton  Tobler 

(4)  Illustrations,  including  the  following: 

Facsimile  page  from  one  of  Mr.  Quick's  letters.  Facsimile  page  from 
one  of  Pestalozzi's  manuscripts,  with  notes  in  the  handwriting  of  Ramsauer, 
Niederer,  Tobler,  and  Kriisi.  Janua  Linguarum,  3  facsimile  pages.  Orbis 
Pictus,  2  facsimile  pages.  Pestalozzi's  birth-place  at  Zurich.  Views  of 
Stanz,  Burgdorf,  Yverdun,  and  the  schoolhouse  at  Birr,  with  Pestnlozzi's 
Memorial.  The  well-known  picture  of  Ascham  and  Lady  Jane  Grey. 

(5)  Translations  of  all  the   passages  in   French,  German,  Latin,  and 
Greek,  with  which  the  book  abounds. 

These  added  translations  are  put  at  the  bottom  of  the  page  and  are 
indicated  by  numbers.  In  the  chapter  on  Rousseau,  the  quotations  in 
French  make  nearly  as  much  matter  as  the  English,  so  that  the  chapter 
might  well  serve  for  an  exercise  in  learning  French  by  parallel  translation, 
after  the  methods  of  Ratich,  Locke,  or  Jacotot. 

(6)  Side-heads,  giving  the  substance  of  the  paragraph. 

(7)  Additional  notes,  always  in  brackets. 

(8)  An  index  much  extended. 

16mo,  pp.  420.    Price  postpaid  in  Manilla  50  cts.  ;  in  Clotli,  $1.00. 

C.  W.   BARDEEN,   Publisher,   Syracuse,  N.  Y. 


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WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


L.U 


r\v  \ 

APft  13  194? 

APR     fa      injn 

(3<8 

yrtyfcfc^ 

LIBRARY  USE 

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OPT  o  c   1QCC 

vjvji  &  \j  nuwU 

• 

OCT  26  1956 

-«•'     .'       1  C7W%I 

L                -'JSf 

MAY  5    1957 

rS.cs 


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3100B-? 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


